


The Call of Resistance

by starstwinkleplanetsshine



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Biggs Darklighter - Freeform, Darklighter, F/M, Flying, Force Sensitivity (Star Wars), Force-Sensitive Original Character(s), How Do I Tag, Mentioned First Order (Star Wars), Mentioned Stormtroopers (Star Wars), Millenium Falcon (Star Wars), My First AO3 Post, My First Fanfic, My First Work in This Fandom, Novastra Darklighter, Pilot Poe Dameron, Pilots, Planet Tatooine (Star Wars), Resistance, Strangers to Lovers, Tatooine Bashing (Star Wars), The First Order Sucks, The Resistance Era, Tusken Raiders (Star Wars), force sensitive, general distaste to lovers, this definitley isnt a self insert, xwing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-02-28
Packaged: 2021-03-13 02:14:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28645833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starstwinkleplanetsshine/pseuds/starstwinkleplanetsshine
Summary: Novastra Darklighter has had her eyes on the horizon ever since she was a child, and she always knew that the quiet life of a moisture farmer on Tatooine was never for her. She longed for the day when she could finally get behind the controls of her mothers old X-Wing and fly until her desert planet was as tiny as the specs of sand that she hated so much. Life in the Outer Rim is hard enough, but with war breaking out in the galaxy, the time is coming when everyone, even simple farmers on Tatooine, must decide if they will keep their eyes downcast to the dirt or stand tall in the face of The First Order.
Relationships: Original Character & Original Character, Poe Dameron & Chewbacca, Poe Dameron/Original Character(s), Poe Dameron/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	1. The Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting on AO3 and I'm a little scared!! I would love any comments, kudos, and suggestions (but only if you're nice because the Star Wars fandom is scary)
> 
> Some language notes:  
> Truguts= A form of currency used on Tatooine  
> Peggats= Another form of currency used on Tatooine. There are four Truguts to a Peggat, and a Peggat is roughly equal to 40 credits.
> 
> This chapter is shorter than my others will be, but I just wanted to give a little introduction to the characters and the story! 
> 
> Thank you so so much for reading! I love you all! And of course, may the force be with you :)

I’ve been a pilot ever since I can remember. It was a natural progression--I learned to walk, talk, and then fly. While other children were learning how to read or lace up their boots, I was behind the controls of an old X Wing on my mother or father's lap, learning the subtle nuances of the art of piloting. Many said it was a waste, that I should spend my time learning some skills valuable for a young girl that would actually help me in life: like the differences between crylar metal and mutlin rock, which crude fabric would earn more truguts at the market, or how to pick up spare scraps to sell at the scrap yard. But my parents and I knew that flying was so much more important than all of those. Those skills, while useful on my small, desert planet of Tatooine, would keep me on the ground. Flying was my only chance of escape, and I always knew it would be my ticket out. All my life, I couldn’t wait for the day I left that hunk of rock that I was trapped on. I could never imagine spending my life there. 

That just wasn’t an option. 

My mother and father knew it too. They would notice how my eyes would always linger on the horizon a little too long, that when all the other children would have their heads down, scanning the dirt, my eyes would be gazing at the twin suns above and marveling at the wonders just beyond our atmosphere. Something pulled me toward the stars, and I could never keep my feet on the ground for too long. And after my parents died when I was young, flying kept me close to them. 

“Novastra Darklighter! Stop staring at the sky and come help me dig up this crylar! I think this might get us enough truguts to be done working for the day.” The voice of my best friend, Lux Mainvin, calling out to me across the sand caught my attention and brought my head down out of the sky. I had lived with Lux ever since I lost my parents, as his family took me in so long as I agreed to work on their moisture farm. But lately, their family business was drying up, and so we had turned to scavenging and scrapping during what little spare time we had just to make ends meet. It seemed like those were the only two ways of life on Tatooine, being a farmer or a scavenger. At least, those were the only two legal ways of life. 

“Since when do you call me by my full name?” I walked over to him and began to brush away sand from the valuable piece of scrap metal that would provide for our dinner tonight. 

“Since I needed to break you out of your trance. I don't know what has gotten into you lately, Nova.” He chuckled slightly as I struggled with the crylar. 

“What do you mean? I’ve always stared into space. I thought you knew me better than that” I teased. 

“Yeah, but lately it’s been...more frequent. You’ve been less responsive and almost,” he paused, struggling to find the right word, “distant.” I suddenly got the feeling he wasn’t just talking about me looking at the horizon. There was silence as we both worked to free the piece of metal that was stuck in the sand. I couldn’t stand the awkwardness anymore.

“Lux, is there something you want to talk about?” He stopped working but kept looking down. It was clear he was debating whether or not to say what was on his mind, but he didn’t have to say it out loud for me to know what he was thinking. 

“Why have you been sneaking out of the hut late at night when you think I’m asleep?” Even though I knew that’s what he was going to ask, I was still shaken by his directness. I racked my brain, trying to come up with a believable lie to tell. 

“I've...been having trouble sleeping. So I thought I would go outside and walk around, that it might tire me out. So that’s why I've been leaving. And I’ve been so quiet about it because I didn’t want to wake you. I know how cranky you get when you’re woken up.” I elbowed him playfully to try and lighten the tension, but as he forced a thin smile and half-hearted chuckle I could tell he wasn’t fully convinced. 

“Okay. I was just...worried” Our eyes met and I could see him wishing he could reach inside my brain and see my true thoughts, the ones I didn't share with him. The ones he knew I didn’t share with him. But after a few moments, he shook his head slightly and returned to working on the piece of valuable metal. 

“I feel like we’ve had to spend more and more time scrapping, and we’ve been getting less and less truguts for what we find” I needed to say something, anything, to change the subject and lighten the mood. I couldn’t have him prying and finding out the real reason for my midnight disappearances. 

“Ya, I think it’s because there are more people turning to scavenging. It’s been a really rough couple of seasons for farmers all over Tatooine, and I think people are wondering if it may be time to consider other options.” Lux finally managed to wedge the large piece of crylar metal out of the dirt, falling over in the process. 

I laughed. He didn’t. 

As he took my hand I had extended to help him up, his eyes met mine and I could see they were full of worry and confusion. I had always been able to read Lux, and his emotions were never a secret to me. Just looking at him, I could feel what he was feeling, and seeing him look so lost hurt me, and something about it pulled me towards him. “My family have been moisture farmers for generations, even longer than yours have.” He said finally. “I don’t know what we’re going to do if we have to give that up.” 

“Well it’s a good thing staying on this rock and being a moisture farmer for the rest of your life was never part of the plan, isn’t it?” I smiled at him, remembering our pact we had since we were kids. 

Ever since the two of us were little, we had a plan to eventually save up enough peggats to fly away from Tatooine for good and explore the galaxy together. That’s why I was always so adamant on being a pilot. Lux couldn’t fly, at least not well, and one of us needed to be able to execute our escape. 

“Yeah,” he allowed himself to chuckle slightly, but his smile didn’t quite reach his eyes, “I guess so” The first sun was just beginning to set on the horizon, my favorite part of the day, and I couldn’t help but stare at them as they made their descent. 

“I can’t wait to get out of here. To see this planet the way our suns do, from so far away that our problems are invisible, and this hunk of rock might even look kind of beautiful.” 

“Beautiful” Lux repeated so quietly, I didn’t even know if he knew he spoke it out loud. “I think that may be the nicest thing you’ve ever said about this planet” 

“I think you may be right” I smiled but didn’t take my eyes off the sunset. 

We stood there for a few moments, watching the world darken around us, me straining to see the first brave stars to light the sky, until finally Lux suggested we head toward the market if we want to get the truguts for the crylar before the other sun goes down, submerging our planet into darkness. It wasn’t safe to be this far away from the village at night, so no matter how much I longed to stay and stare, imagining how my life would be once I finally got away, I relented and went with him. 

Lux was always the one to suggest we move on. 

After making the trek to the market, we had to bargain to get a reasonable amount of truguts for the piece of crylar we found. We hardly got half of what it was worth, and Lux was fuming about the injustice of it, but the reality was that we were some of the lucky ones. Finding that good of a piece of metal in the middle of the desert was a welcomed rarity, usually a scavenger has a good day if they find scraps and can trade them for one third of what they’re worth. But between the size and quality of the piece, and my above average negotiating skills, we got enough to afford a passable dinner for the two of us. Add to the fact that his family still had a semi-profitable farm, and we were definitely better off than most, especially by Tatooine standards. On most other planets, we would be scraping the bottom of the barrel. 

But as far as I was concerned, until I had saved enough to get away for good, I was destitute. 

When we got back to his farm, Lux went into his parent’s hut to inform them of what work we got done that day and the success we had in finding the crylar. While he did this, I started to make our dinner. I still wasn’t used to our living situation, even though it had been over a year since it changed to what it is now. Ever since the farm began to struggle a few seasons ago, his parents could no longer support me in any way other than hiring me as a farm hand. The day they told me this, Lux got so angry that he insisted that his parents stop supporting him as well, since, according to him, I was “just as much a part of the family” as he was. But when his parents still didn’t change their minds, he insisted on moving into my hut with me and refused to accept anything more from them than the money he earned. Since then, my relationship with his parents has been nothing more than professional, and his was rocky for a while. Lately, he had been mending it, though, and that made me glad. I didn’t want to be the reason their family tore apart. 

The rest of the night passed in the usual way, Lux and I had the small meal I prepared and filled our time with light conversation. 

That is, until Lux brought up the war.

I was shocked, because he usually got annoyed with me when I began to talk on this matter, but it seemed to me that something in his demeanor had changed, as he now spoke openly about things which I was uneasy to say around him. We hadn’t had many conversations on this topic, but the few we did had showed me clearly that my opinions were much stronger and more radical than his. Not that he supported the First Order, he didn’t like their imperialistic ideology anymore than I did, but where our opinions really differed was about The Resistance. Lux had always been a rule follower, even when we were kids, and this led him to view the band of rebels as unruly and unlawful. Like poking a sleeping Dewback, he couldn’t understand why The Resistance would want to go up against The First Order, or how they could believe they would win. 

“But don’t you believe that, even in the darkest hour,  _ especially  _ in the darkest hour, good has to stand up against evil if there is to be any hope of the light returning?” 

“Whoa, Nov,” Lux stared at me, clearly shocked at what I had said. “Where did you learn to use rhetoric like that?” I shrugged, trying to brush it off like it was no big deal. But unknown to him, I had been getting a lot of practice at giving speeches like that. “Also, ‘darkest hour’, ‘good’, ‘evil’, who are we to judge? Evil’s a pretty strong word. I don’t know if I would consider the First Order ‘evil’. Imperialistic, totalitarian, sure, probably, but evil?” The question hung thick in the arid air. 

I knew my answer, but I kept it to myself. 

“I just can’t believe it’s happening all over again, and it’s only been, what, 30 years?”

“29 actually,” I raised an eyebrow at him. “The Battle of Jakku and the signing of the Galactic Concordance happened in 5 ABY. It’s 34 ABY now. That’s 29 years.” 

“Wow, I didn’t know you were so into history.” I smiled playfully at him. 

“It’s hardly history, it was 29 years ago! That's only six years before you were born.” 

“And four years before you were.” He nodded. 

Of course I knew all of this too. Stories about the Civil War against the Empire were what put me to sleep as a child. While most children got fairytales, I got war stories of the Battle of Yavin, stories of Princess Leia and Han Solo, the Rebellion and the Empire. The Jedi. When both of your parents were prominent pilots in the Rebel Alliance, those were your bedtime stories.

And I loved them. 

The Rebel spirit ran deep in my family, my uncle joined my parents in the fight against the Empire as well, and he gave the ultimate sacrifice for the cause he so passionately believed in. Just like me, he had always dreamed of leaving Tatooine, and being a pilot was his ticket out of his life of moisture farming. Out of all the stories I was told about the Civil War, the ones about my Uncle Biggs were my dad's favorite to tell, even more than stories of Luke Skywalker, which were my favorite to hear. 

My dad always claimed that he grew up with Luke and that him and my uncle were best friends, but I could never believe that a Jedi could come from Tatooine. That just seemed too impossible. 

“But you knew that” It was almost as if my thoughts had jumped into Lux’s mouth. I looked up, surprise clearly on my face, and he smiled. “You used to tell me all the stories your parents told you when we were kids. Stories about war heroes and Jedi and pilots and battles. You loved them.” I couldn't help but grin thinking about our younger days on Tatooine. Days when my parents were still alive to share their stories. 

“Yeah, I did.” 

My parents are the reason I do everything that I do. They are the reason I became a pilot. They are the reason I want to get off this dustbowl of a planet and see the galaxy and be among the stars. 

And they are the reason I joined The Resistance, and quickly rose to be the leader of it here on Tatooine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading! I have big plans for Nova (which may or may not involve our favorite Resistance pilot Poe Dameron...) so I hope you stick around to see what they are!  
> I'll update soon, and like I said the next chapters will be longer! This was just a little introduction to give you a taste of the story :)


	2. The Plan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! I don't have much to say about this chapter except thank you for reading! The beginning is pretty much a continuation of the first chapter, and then we get the ball rolling on some action that's coming up. As always I would love any comments, kudos, and suggestions (only if you're nice!)
> 
> I love you all and I hope you like the story so far! 
> 
> And of course, may the force be with you!

The conversation shifted from the war and the night passed more normally. Eventually, it was time for Lux and I to go to our rooms and sleep, until the Twins rose again and it was time for another day of farming, scavenging, sweating, and wondering when I would finally get away from the sands of this detestable planet. 

Banthas, I hate sand. 

My nerves rose as each minute passed. Tonight I had a meeting with our small Resistance, and now that I knew Lux was aware of and curious about why I was leaving in the middle of the night, I needed to be more careful about sneaking out. 

Quietly I made my way across the floor, passing his room and chancing a glance into the open doorway. There he was, laying sound asleep in his bed, completely unaware of my movements. I breathed a sigh of relief. I could even hear him snoring ever so slightly, and I knew I was safe. I moved faster after seeing that, grabbing my staff and opening the door, which creaked louder than I had remembered, and stepped into the dry, desert night. Between the three moons shining above and the millions of stars stretching across the sky, it was easy enough to find my way, and this was not my first journey to the secret meeting place. 

Even so, every step was dangerous. 

The First Order didn’t pay much attention to planets in the Outer Rim, just as the Empire hadn’t, and the Republic before, and that's why Tatooine was allowed to become so wild and uncontrolled, largely run by crime rings and lacking an effective government. Every day I was reminded of how fortunate my situation of living with Lux’s family was. Most orphans on Tatooine are forced into a life of crime or slavery, but since the only source of water on the planet is through moisture farms, the owners of these farms are respected members of the community. I don’t like thinking of how different my life would be if my parents hadn’t been friends with the Mainvin family. But even the wild, untamed Tatooine couldn’t escape the overbearing hand of the First Order, as recently a small band of Storm Troopers had been sent to “keep the peace”, which really meant stop anyone who defied their views, even if that meant killing them to do so. 

Doesn’t seem very peaceful to me. 

This band of stormtroopers was actually the very reason I had called a Resistance meeting that night. 

The closer I came to the meeting spot the more my anxiety rose, as I was planning on proposing an outrageous idea. Up until now, our resistance efforts had been in the shadows, small acts of disobedience that were all but unnoticeable unless looked at closely. But I felt that the time was coming that larger action needed to be taken. We had recently gotten word that there had been battles fought, and more than the mere skirmishes of the past months. Actual battles. This war was quickly moving from cold to boiling hot, from diplomatic stand-offs to laser fire and casualties. 

The stakes were getting higher, and now was the time to act, before it became too late. 

As I finally came upon our meeting spot for tonight, a secluded dwelling set in a hill on the outskirts of a nearby village, I performed the secret knock and was given entry into the space. I ducked my head into the small room and looked around as all the talking dulled and eventually came to a stop. All eyes turned to me as the leader, and I saw that nearly everyone was there that was to be expected, about 100 in all. There were some who couldn’t come to these meetings, whether it was too far or too dangerous, but the information was always dispersed to them the next day. 

We began the meeting with formalities, and I asked everyone any information they knew about the war and any potential trouble that could be brewing here on Tatooine. Everyone shuddered to hear reports of the terror the stormtroopers were wreaking in the spaceport of Mos Eisley and they questioned the stories of the war raging outside our star system. Our older members couldn’t believe that they were going through this again, having to face another totalitarian force threatening the peace of the galaxy and risking their lives for a second time to push back the darkness. I was grateful for their resilience as well as their wisdom and experience, but the jaded look in their eye as we discussed the threat of the First Order always made my heart sink. 

They also reminded me of my parents, who I knew would be in this room with me if they were still alive, willingly putting their lives on the line again without a second thought. 

As the meeting continued, the conversation seemed to center around the fleet of Stormtroopers that had been stationed on Tatooine for a few months now. Despite the short amount of time they had occupied our planet, the destruction and death they were leaving in their wake shocked even our oldest members. Many, especially those who lived in the city, feared for their lives as any hint of their involvement in the Resistance would bring punishment, and probably death. While we were discussing possible courses of action to take to aid the Resistance in any way possible, I knew it was time to propose my ambitious plan. This wild idea struck, seemingly from nowhere, a few days ago, and it had consumed my every thought since. It was truly outrageous and more risky than anything we had attempted before, and the consequences should we fail were certain death and the destruction of our band of Resistance. I almost dismissed the thought completely, telling myself it was impossible, that no one would go along with it, and that they may even question my leadership and authority if I spoke it out loud. 

But despite all these doubts, something arose inside me, a stirring, a prompting that I couldn’t ignore, and before I knew what was happening, the unspeakable words were out of my mouth.

“What if we got rid of the Stormtroopers?” 

Silence. 

I looked around the room, and those who would meet my gaze stared wide-eyed, clearly still processing those words. Most of them were looking at the ground, uncomfortable at my brash words of violent resistance, until a single voice spoke for the rest,

“What?” 

“Just think about it--” I began to defend my idea, “if the stormtroopers were gone, then there would be no First Order threat to Tatooine. They’re the only thing suppressing us right now. The First Order doesn't care enough to pay attention to the planets on the Outer Rim, us least of all! I doubt The Troopers even report to anyone, they’ve been out of supplies for almost two months now and there hasn’t been a restock ship, there hasn’t even been anything sent! Isn’t that right, Kaligo?” I turned to our youngest member, who lived in Mos Eisley and had the important task of keeping an eye on the Storm Troopers there and observing their movements and habits. She nodded slowly, wary of speaking in this situation. “Thank you. If we got rid of all of them before they had the chance to transmit to the First Order for help, then they would never even know.”

“And how do you plan on doing that?” A gruff voice from the back challenged. 

“Well, we would come up with the details together, and it would take a lot of careful planning, but we would have to…” I trailed off, afraid to say the morbid words that came next.

“Kill them.” The same man replied. I swallowed hard, the weight of what I truly suggested sinking in, and dropping a heavy weight on my chest. 

“Yes, I guess that’s what we would have to do” A cold silence filled the room, the only sound coming from those who shifted uncomfortably where they sat or stood. Finally an older woman, a veteran of the first war, broke the tension.

“We’d better discuss this, then.” 

For the rest of the meeting, which stretched out to be a couple of hours, we discussed the pros and cons of my radical plan, eventually putting it to a vote. I thought that everyone would hate it, or be too afraid to enact it, but when it came time to make the decision, the majority of the group wanted to go through with it.

I was shocked. 

Looking around at the faces surrounding me, I was overwhelmed with the tenacity and spirit that filled the room. Our Resistance was small, and may look weak to the outsider looking in, but our nerve and hunger made up for what we lacked in numbers. I thought of how proud my parents would be if they could see me now, leading this group who were determined to change the galaxy.

A part of me wondered if they could. 

Eventually I had to end the meeting so that everyone could make it back to their homes safely before the suns came up, but not before discussing when and where our next meeting would be held. This was done quickly, as many of us needed the cover of night to hide from the prying eyes of the First Order and our neighbors. Even though many wanted to stay and keep discussing our bold plan, everyone began to clear out, in increments that would not be suspicious, and go home. For the past couple of weeks I felt as though some were losing heart and beginning to wonder if our efforts were really worth it, but now that we had a tangible plan that would have a large impact, a spark had been ignited once again and the flames of the Resistance began to grow. 

Slowly, but surely.

I stayed behind to make sure everyone left the way they were supposed to and to thank the hosts of the meeting, and by the time it was clear for me to leave, the sky was already beginning to glow just as it did right before the first sun peeked over the horizon. I had never been gone this long before, or travelled this late (or would it be early?), and I was uneasy the whole way home. Leaving Resistance meetings always gave me a feeling of dread, as I worried about everyone getting home without being caught by Stormtroopers, or the many other local dangers that lurked in the dark Tatooine night. I knew I had to hurry to get back before it was fully light, since if anyone saw me there would be suspicion for sure, but that was difficult as our meeting location was over 3 klicks away from the Mainvin farm. 

I made good time getting back, having to run most of the way, but I still didn’t make it before the first sun came up, instead arriving right before the second appeared. I had a bad feeling as I approached our hut that Lux would be awake, and he would not be happy with me. There was a slim chance he would still be sleeping, in which case I would quietly slip into my room and pretend that my night was uneventful as ever, but I had no idea what lie I could come up with if he caught me before I made it there. I braced myself as I walked through the door, hoping for the best, but a part of me already knew what I would find once inside. 

I barely got one foot inside the door before he started shouting. 

“Where the hell have you been?” His yell broke the silence of the early morning. 

“Lux, I-”

“And why the hell are you coming home at the crack of dawn?” I was shocked at the tone of his voice. In my almost 20 years of knowing Lux, I had never heard him yell like this. There was so much emotion in it, anger being the most obvious, but it was almost as if that anger was a mask for other emotions, stronger ones, that lingered and mixed in but were harder to discover, emotions like fear, worry, and, if I strained hard enough…

“I told you, Lux, I’ve been having trouble sleeping. So I went to walk around outside and I stayed out longer than I intended to.” I paused to catch my breath, still winded from my long journey home. His stony silence told me that that answer wasn’t enough for him, so I strained to think of something else to say that would account for my absence. “Eventually I thought I would get a jump on scavenging for today, so I started looking around. By the time I thought I should come back, the first sun was already coming up, so I rushed back as fast as I could because I didn’t want you to worry.”

“You didn’t want me to worry? Well, you did a  _ fantastic  _ job at that! I’ve been up, worried sick, hoping to the stars you weren’t lost, or hurt, or...” He couldn't even finish his thought, and by the look on his face, it’s because it was too horrible to say out loud. He didn’t say it, he didn’t have to, but I knew what he was referring to. 

Tusken Raiders. 

This feared, nomadic, local people was the monster under the bed in every children’s horror story, and rightfully so. There were many dangers living on Tatooine, especially living on a moisture farm on the outskirts of a village, but the Sand People were the highest threat and the most feared. They were extremely hostile, and known to attack without warning. The energy in the air shifted at that, almost as if it were sucked out completely, and any anger or annoyance I felt at Lux vanished as well. I knew better than most the threat and dangers of the Sand People. Suddenly I could see why my absence made him so worried, and I understood his concern. Suddenly, I was ashamed at my recklessness. 

“I’m sorry, Lux. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“I know you didn’t,” his temper began to cool, and his voice returned to the normal one I knew, soothing and steady, almost musical, “it's just...it’s dangerous out there, especially when you’re alone. I-” he took a deep breath, and I thought he wasn’t going to finish his thought, but then he added, “I worry about you.” I looked up into his caring, brown eyes, so full of tenderness and concern, that I almost forgot we were fighting just minutes before. 

“I had no idea you felt that way.” I couldn't think of anything else to say but, “I’m sorry.” He took a deep breath and I saw a small smile creep onto his face before he softly replied, 

“I know. It’s okay.” His eyes met mine and seeing him smile eased any tension the past confrontation caused. Then he opened his arms and smiled wider, and I knew that our fight was over. “Come here.” 

I laughed freely as I walked to him and melted into his open arms, and as I felt them close around me it was as if I was exactly where I was supposed to be. My life was increasingly becoming more confusing, dangerous, and uncertain, but when I was with Lux, everything was clear, safe, and sure. We stayed like this for a few moments, just with each other, our silence a comfortable blanket, until the blanket was ripped off by Lux’s words,

“Just no more midnight and early morning walks alone, okay?” I lingered in the silence a few moments longer. 

Too long. 

“Okay.”

“Promise?”

More silence. 

“I promise”

But that was a promise I knew I would have to break.

* * *

The next few weeks passed uneventfully. The Resistance had frequent meetings to plan our attack on the Stormtroopers, but I was more careful to ensure that Lux never caught me again. I didn’t know what I would do if he saw me sneaking out a second time, but I had a feeling I wouldn’t be able to lie my way out of it then.

My days consisted of helping with the Mainvin moisture farm in the mornings, scrapping with Lux in the afternoons, and then Resistance meetings at night. I was running on empty, and Lux could tell. Everyday it got harder and harder to wake up in the mornings, since our meetings were becoming more frequent, and I was getting less and less sleep. He never said anything about it, but I could see it in his eyes that he was noticing something was going on, something I wasn’t telling him. 

But Lux was never one to butt into other peoples business, and he was always perfectly happy staying quiet, in his own world, not stepping on anyone's toes. 

For once in my life, I was thankful for his diffidence.

Finally, it was the night before our planned attack, and there was a tangible buzz, an excitement, in the air during our final meeting. There were those that got cold feet at the last minute and decided they needed to drop out, but other than those understandable few, everyone was all in. I went over the plan in detail, making sure everyone knew their role. I also went over every single thing that could go wrong, and what we would do in those scenarios. The more I talked about it the weight of what we were planning sunk into me, and suddenly I realized how impossible it was. 

For weeks we had been meticulously planning our attack, but now it was in front of us, looming like a treacherous mountain that you couldn’t see the top of. I didn’t show any sign of my doubts, however. I knew my people looked up to me and needed me to be firm and secure. If I began to doubt, then surely they would too. No, I took on this leadership role, and that meant that I needed to put my personal feelings aside and be what my small band of rebels needed me to be. 

“Now is the time we decide who we’re going to be in this time of resistance and change. When we decide if we’re going to keep our heads down and ignore the devastation that the First Order is causing all throughout the galaxy, or if we decide we’re going to take a stand, and fight for freedom.”

There were smiles from some, but others were stone-faced, paralyzed by fear and dread. 

“We are taking bold action. What we are going to do tomorrow is going to make a lot of waves, and I’m not going to lie to you, it is dangerous. Some of us may be hurt, or worse. But it is times like these that we must remember that we do not fight for ourselves, nor do we fight alone. There are others like us out there, small groups of people on other systems who have also decided to stand, who decided that they weren’t going to let the terror and fear of the First Order rule their lives. We fight for them, and we fight for Tatooine. But not only do we fight for our planet, we fight for all of the Outer Rim, to say that just because we are small and far does not mean we are worthless. We are going to make the First Order regret the day they underestimated us. 

“But most of all, we fight for the future. We fight so that there can be a day when we tell our children, and our children’s children, that there is peace and freedom in the galaxy because of the efforts of a small group of The Resistance on Tatooine who looked tyranny in the eye and decided there was no place for it here, or anywhere. We may be small, but I have no doubt our actions tomorrow will ripple out into eternity. I am sure of this because I look to the generation before us as an example that good will always triumph over evil, so long as the good is willing to fight for it. And we are.” 

I had no idea where those words came from, and I was hardly aware that they were flowing out of my mouth until my speech was over and I was brought back to reality by the sounds of cheering, clapping, whooping, and the sight of everyone on their feet and beaming, even those whose fear consumed them just minutes ago. Looking at them, at all the faces who I had grown to know and love over the past few months, I, for the first time, finally felt like their leader. Their confidence in me fueled me, and I got an overwhelming feeling that our efforts tomorrow would be successful, and we would take one step closer to freedom. 

After everyone settled down, I wrapped up the meeting with a few more logistical items and then, little by little, everyone began the systematic trek back to their homes. 

Almost everyone was out when I felt a light hand on my shoulder. I turned and met eyes with our oldest member, Dya, who had also been a part of the Rebellion in the Galactic Civil War. I had always looked up to her, and often asked her advice on tough situations, as I knew her experience and knowledge was invaluable. There was a kindness and a new light in her eyes that I couldn’t help but notice, and it was infectious. 

“Your parents would be so proud of you.” Dya had known my father since childhood, as they both grew up on Tatooine. She met my mother when they settled here after the war, and I knew they would often meet to share stories about their time fighting. They found solace in each other, survivors trying to make sense of why they still lived when so many didn’t. “You have your father's eloquence and charisma, and your mother's passion and intelligence, not to mention her beauty.”

I was stunned by her heart-felt words, and felt the mixture of pride and sadness, love and loss that always accompanied any mention of my parents. Even after all these years I still felt the sting of their absence. Not a day went by where I didn’t miss them. 

“Thank you.” The weight of her words were still sinking into me. “I try to honor them and make them proud with everything I do. They put their life on hold to fight the Empire, so I knew I needed to do the same to fight the First Order” 

With one last knowing smile and a reassuring pat on my arm, she too left, hobbling through the dark, perilous night back to her home. I only hoped I was as courageous and capable when I reached her age, if I ever did. 

As I walked back to my hut and silently slipped back into my room, careful to not wake Lux in the process, I knew I would be getting very little sleep that night. I was a mess of nerves and doubts, the plans of tomorrow’s events swirling relentlessly in my head. I thought of everything that could go wrong, and what would happen if it did. I thought about what would happen if everything went right, and what our next steps would be. I thought about what would happen if everything went right, but then the First Order caught wind of it and decided to punish us with even more force than there was to begin with. I tried to push the negative thoughts out of my head and just focus on the plan. 

Everything was now in motion, and I would just have to wait until tomorrow to see how it played out. Eventually I drifted into a restless sleep, dreams of yelling, explosions, and Storm Troopers following me even in my rest. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So there's the grand plan! Can Nova and her group of Resistance pull it off? More importantly, can Nova keep it a secret from Lux? You'll just have to read the next chapter to see...
> 
> You're one chapter closer to our favorite Resistance pilot making an appearance! Just hold on a little longer, I promise Poe's almost here!


	3. The Liberators

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off let me say thank you for reading! I'm not sure how many people are reading this story, and if anyone's enjoying it, but I'm having a lot of fun writing it! We're finally getting into the action in this chapter, so I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it! 
> 
> I can't think of anything to make notes on, but I would love any comments, kudos, or suggestions (nice ones please!) you have :) 
> 
> And of course, may the force be with you! I love you!

I woke up as the light of the first sun came blazing across the horizon, wide-awake and not weighed down by my usual morning sluggishness. I had never been a morning person, and the past few months of late night meetings made this even more true. 

But this morning was different. 

“Whoa, have you ever seen the sunsrise before?” Lux, who had woken up with the Twins since he was a child, always made fun of me for my habit of sleeping in. I brushed off his remark, rolling my eyes, as I continued to walk into the kitchen and sat down across from him at the table.

“Just because I’m awake doesn’t mean I want to be” 

“Then why are you up so early?” His tone shifted ever so slightly, but I picked up on it. This time he was serious, truly wanting to know. 

Wanting to know what I was hiding from him. 

Ever since he caught me sneaking back in a few weeks ago, he had paid more attention to my actions and was skeptical of nearly everything I did. Now I felt like I had to constantly be on edge around him, and I hated that. Lux used to be the one person I could relax and let my guard down around, and now he was the person I had to have it up for the most. It was the only bad thing about me leading the Resistance.

“I told you I’ve been having trouble sleeping. I figured I’d come join you, since what's the point of just laying awake in bed if I’m not going to be able to fall back asleep.” He nodded, and it seemed like he believed me.

It was becoming too easy for me to lie to him. I used to never lie to him. 

“Well, so long as we’re both up, we can get to work early and then we can finish earlier than normal. Sound good?” He smiled at me, his big, sweet smile, and the pang of guilt from keeping secrets from him grew bigger, jabbing my heart. 

“Sounds great.” I returned his smile, and after a few moments we got up and began our work. I was hoping he would suggest that, because the plan was to attack the Storm Troopers later in the afternoon, when our informants from the city said they were the least active and off their guard. 

The whole day I couldn’t think of anything else but the plan that would unfold in just a few hours. I was unfocused and distracted all day, and Lux repeatedly called me out and asked what was the matter. Each time I came up with some different excuse, but each time I sensed he believed me less and less. 

“Nova, I don’t know where your head is today.” I looked up from where I had been staring at the sand, my mind entirely on the plans for this afternoon. I didn’t know when I had zoned out, or for how long I had been staring.

“Sorry, Lux. I guess I’m just tired.” He shook his head and came over to finish repairs on the Vaporator I was working on. Suddenly he stopped and looked me right in the face, something that always took me by surprise. Lux was soft spoken, gentle, and non confrontational. But whenever his deep brown eyes locked on mine, with that too-familiar intense, determined gaze, I knew he was about to say something he didn’t want to, but felt he needed to anyway. 

“You’ve been acting really strange for the past few months, Nov. I’ve tried to ignore it, but especially the past few weeks, after you came home super early that one time, you haven’t been...you.” 

I couldn’t hold his gaze anymore and looked down at my dust-covered boots. His stare, however, held firm. 

“You’ve been lying to me.” 

My shock must’ve shown on my face.

“Did you really not think I wouldn’t know? You’ve been like my sister for almost half my life, and you really thought you could just lie to me so easily?” 

My shame rose so quickly I could feel my face redden. 

“I don’t know what you’ve been doing, or where you’ve been going, but it hurts that you aren’t being honest with me and that you don’t trust me enough to let me be a part of your life. I miss you. I miss how we used to be, before you got all distant and secretive.” 

If I was honest with myself, I knew I missed that too, but the words caught in my throat. All I could do was stare at the ground.

Lux and I were never silent together. 

“I didn’t want to bring it up like this, but I needed to sometime.” I knew I should say something, but I couldn't. 

After more silence, he spoke again, clearly frustrated and upset with me, “I’m not gonna scavenge today. You can go without me, or not, I don’t care.” He began to turn back to the hut, but only got about half way before he turned around. “Are you really just going to stand there? Are you not going to say anything?!” 

I had never heard him yell like that. I had never heard him sound so angry. And hurt. It cut me to the heart, and I felt like I had fallen into a deep hole that I could never get out of. There was now a divide between us, a chasm that had never been there before, and I wondered if it could ever be crossed. 

“Lux, I’m sorry. You’re right, I have been keeping secrets, and I have been distant.” When I finally mustered up the courage to look at his face, his burning eyes made me feel even worse, and the cut deepened. 

“Why?” With a simple word, he turned my whole world upside down. He asked me the one thing I hoped with everything I had he wouldn’t, the one thing I knew would blow everything up. 

There was more silence. 

So much silence, as I wrestled with how to answer him, and as he waited for me to speak. 

“I can’t tell you.” I broke my own heart with those words, and I can only imagine what I did to him with them. 

I wouldn’t know, though, because at that he turned and stormed into our hut, but not before I caught a glimpse of his eyes. They had turned icy. Stony. Cold. So full of anger and betrayal that I hardly recognized them. The sound of him slamming the door that echoed across the desolate landscape shocked me out of my suspended state, and I was left staring at the spot where my closest friend stood moments ago, before he turned his back on me. 

But really, I had turned my back on him first, weeks before, months before. It would've been so easy for me to be angry at him right back, to say he was overreacting. But I couldn’t. I knew the fault was mine, that I was the one causing the rift between us. To Lux, the most important thing in the world was honesty, and I betrayed that. He knew I did, but even worse, he didn’t yet know how. And that made it even worse. 

But I also knew I couldn’t tell him the truth, I couldn’t risk it. He didn’t agree with the Resistance, he never had, and I didn’t know what he would do if he found out there was one on Tatooine, and I especially didn’t know what he would do if he knew I led it. This was just another sacrifice I had to make. 

I sat down where I stood in the heat of the blazing suns and cried. 

* * *

Time passed without me realizing it. My tears had been dry for a while, my face was being burnt by the unrelenting suns above, but I just sat there trying to make sense of the mess my world had quickly become. My mind was a tangle of thoughts about the war brewing, then flashes of Lux’s outburst, scenarios of everything that was going to take place that afternoon, then again, Lux. 

If I wasn’t worried enough about our plan, going into it without a clear head made me even more apprehensive. Just when I wanted time to slow down, it seemed to move quicker than ever, and before I knew it, it was time to head toward the closest thing to a city you can find on Tatooine, Mos Eisley, where our plan would be put into motion. The whole walk I went over the plan again and again in my head. I told myself that everyone knew their positions and their designated roles, we went over that in detail at our meeting last night. 

Our informants told us that most of the Troopers congregate in one of the local cantinas around the same time everyday, and that would be where we strike. One by one, members would file into the cantina pretending to be patrons, all spread out and inconspicuous. Then once given the signal, they would fire on the Troopers with their blasters, careful to avoid anyone else in the room. Almost the rest of our group would be stationed outside the cantina, ready to fire upon any stormtroopers that flee. I organized a small group to disable their racers and speeders so they couldn't escape and get intel to backup units, if there even were any in close enough systems. Most importantly, a few of my most trusted members and I would sneak into their makeshift headquarters and destroy their communications systems so that they can’t alert any nearby First Order Starships of what is happening. Going over it to myself, walking towards the place where the plan would take form, I realized how many things could go wrong. 

There was so much room for error and potential disaster despite our best efforts to come up with an air-tight plan. The only thing certain was that it was too late to turn back now. As the bustle of the seedy city center of Mos Eisley came into view, one thought began to boom in my head, over and over, louder than my worries and fears about what was about to take place. A phrase I remembered my parents teaching me and using when I was younger. The phrase my mother spoke to me with her last breath, right before I felt her hand go cold and limp in mine. They told me it was the battle cry of the Rebellion, and it signified hope and an ancient, sacred power that ran through the whole universe. I didn’t know the words came out of my mouth until I heard myself speaking them, almost as a prayer out to the galaxy, and to my fellow Resistance members who were getting ready to fight for freedom. 

“May the force be with you.”

I walked into Mos Eisley with my head held high knowing that when I walked out of it nothing would be the same. 

There were so many people milling about in the grimy, dirt streets of the city center, much more than I thought there would be. I tried to see this as a positive thing, that it would be easier to blend in this way. But it also worried me, since I didn’t want any civilians to be caught in the cross-fire of what was sure to be a firefight. I tried to shake this thought out of my head as I continued forward, catching glimpses of familiar faces. Other members of the Resistance. We would make brief eye contact but made no other indication that we knew each other, no one wanted to tip anyone off that something suspicious was going on. I saw people get into their designated positions, and I knew the time was getting nearer. The first part of the plan was the trickiest, and most dangerous. 

And it was about to begin.

“Hey!” A large man pushed me from behind, causing me to stumble forward and spin around, locking eyes with him. “You’ve got some nerve showing your face around me!” Isaary Sinwor was a valuable and trusted Resistance member around my same age, he was tall and strong, and most importantly, he had a flair for the dramatic. This meant that everyone was in position and ready. 

The plan had begun. 

“I have nerve?” I shouted back at him, as loud as possible, “If I recall, you’re the one who sold me faulty parts!” I pushed him away from me forcefully. Two more Resistance members joined the fight, one woman, Baillee Fulred, and one man, Kamdeon Stoyar, who pretended to try to break us up. We needed to make as big of a scene as we could if we were to get the attention of the Stromtroopers that patrolled the area. The two of us kept screaming back and forth at each other, and the other two kept struggling, as we slowly got increasingly more violent. I began to worry that this plan wouldn’t work when three StormTroopers came around the corner straight toward us. 

I took a deep breath and readied myself for the interaction. 

“Break it up!” Yelled the Trooper on the right side, but we ignored him. They advanced quickly, calling out for us to stop fighting, and they became increasingly more agitated as we ignored them. Finally, they reached us and two of them grabbed Isaary and I aggressively by the arm, pulling us apart. The other pointed his blaster at Baillee and Kamdeon to stop them. We struggled as they kept barking commands at us, and that was the key. 

“Okay trouble makers, we’re going to have to settle this somewhere else.” They were taking us in for questioning and to try to settle the dispute, and as they marched us away towards their headquarters Isaary and I shared a brief knowing look.

We were one step closer. 

I could feel the fear rise in me as we entered the First Order headquarters flanked by StormTroopers holding blasters to us. Little did they know, we all concealed our own weapons as well. There were not many Troopers in the building, at least not that I could see. It was clear our informants were right--they had gotten lazy. After months on Tatooine with nothing to do but stir up trouble, it seems they stopped taking their jobs too seriously. 

They were about to learn that was a mistake. 

But despite this, and the fact that all of us knew how to fight and defend ourselves very well, the nerves within me continued to grow more and more. Kamdeons cough brought me back to reality. That was the signal. 

We had to act now. 

Quickly, Kamdeon knocked out the Trooper that was holding the blaster to him and Baillee, while the rest of us whipped out our weapons. The two other Troopers were surprised, but quickly sprung into action. Isaary began to fight one of them and quickly disarmed him, while I turned to the other one. He fired his blaster and barely missed my side, and instinctively I fired mine. 

He was down before I even realized it, and I had to push the reality of what I’d just done out of my mind. 

By the time Isaary took care of the Trooper he was fighting, Baillee was at the end of the hall, motioning to us that the coast was clear. We quickly and quietly followed her, knowing that more Troopers would be after us soon. We had to find their main communications room, and while we had a general idea of where it was, it still took a while to locate it. We encountered a few more Troopers on our way, but each time we took cover and fired at them until the coast was clear. We had a couple of close calls, but so far we were successful. Finally we reached the room we were looking for, and I knew it would only get more difficult from here. I looked at my team one more time.

“We do this together. We stick to the plan. Clear the room, disconnect the servers, get the hell out of there, and blow it into the sky. Ready?” They all nodded and I took a deep breath. 

Again I whispered to myself, “ _ may the force be with us” _ , as I swung open the door, ready to fight. 

Before it was even fully opened my team was already firing at the few Troopers stationed inside. I began to fire as the room became chaotic and loud, a mess of energy and heat from the blasters flying around. Suddenly I heard a loud cry of pain next to me, and I turned to see Baillee on the ground, clutching her arm. 

“I’m okay! I just got hit in the arm, I’m okay.” I was thankful her wound wasn’t fatal, but this did complicate things. After a long couple of minutes, and more close shots than I was comfortable with, all of the Troopers who were in the room lay on the ground. I looked around and saw that our whole team was still intact, a little battered and Baillee with an injury, but we were all left standing. 

“Close the doors and make sure no one can open them.” Isaary quickly closed the door and figured out a way to lock them from the inside. I walked over to Baillee, tearing off a piece of my shirt as I did. I knelt down to tie it around her injury, and I could tell she was in a lot of pain. “Baillee, can you still shut down the servers?” 

She nodded slowly and I helped her up and over to the main control panel. She began typing away quickly, as if she hadn’t just sustained a blast to her upper arm. I was impressed by her ability to push away her pain. 

Suddenly I was struck with the realization of how we had made it this far: our resilience. Growing up on Tatooine forces you to be hardened, and to have skills that beings on other planets wouldn’t need. But here, you had to fight everyday to survive, and it made us strong.

For the first time, I truly believed we would be able to pull this off. 

“Done” In a matter of minutes, Baillee had cut off any chance of the Troopers communicating with anyone off-planet. “And it doesn’t look like they were able to send any transmissions alerting the First Order of our attack. We’re in the clear.” I could feel our morale soar, as Kamdeon hugged Baillee and Isaary beamed at me, and I returned his smile. “They can still communicate with each other for now,” She continued, “but that will end when we fry this place.” 

“I think we should get out of here soon, we’re about to have company” Isaary pointed to the security cams which showed a group of almost ten StormTroopers headed our way. 

The sense of fear came back.

“Well if everything's ready, then I’d say it's time to make some noise.” The others smiled as they moved towards the door. As I turned from the screen a medium sized book caught my eye, with the words “Information” on it. I quickly grabbed it and stuffed it into my bag, thinking it could be valuable to us. 

“Ready?” Isaary questioned as he stood by the button that would open the doors. I looked around to the others, Baillee nodded and Kamdeon raised his blaster. 

“Ready.” 

Silently, the doors slid open to reveal an empty hallway. I was suspicious, but we cautiously made our way out of the room. Isaary was the last to leave, as he planted the explosion device that would destroy the building. I could hear him activate it, and then he closed the doors, quickly sliding between them, and caught up.

“We have three minutes or we’re going up with this place.” This made us move quicker, all the while wondering where the Troopers that we saw on the cams were. 

As we were about to round a corner, I got a nagging feeling that I couldn’t shake, and the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I held out my arm quickly to stop my team, and held a finger to my lips. Quickly, I handed everyone small pieces of dried Dewback skin to shove in their ears, as I demonstrated. They were confused, until they saw me take out a small device out of my bag. I had taken it from Lux’s farm before I left, just in case. 

They all recognized the old gadget that moisture farmers used to use to disorient any Sand People who would try to come to their farms and damage Vaporators, or worse, and they knew why I had handed them the odd item of Dewback earstoppers. When activated, it emitted a sound so loud that it caused pain and confusion to anyone who heard. The only thing thick enough to block the sound was Dewback skin. Once I knew the other three were safely protected, I activated it and threw it around the corner. I motioned for them to go as I faintly heard the high-frequency sound, accompanied by the sound of screaming and clanging of metal. My plan had worked, the Troopers dropped their weapons and would be easy targets. We came flying around the corner, blasters blazing upon the incapacitated Troopers, and took out every one of them. Once I knew the coast was clear, I picked up the object that had saved us, switched it off, and stuffed it back in my bag. This way, hopefully Lux wouldn’t notice I used it. 

I didn’t know how much time we had but I knew it was getting close. We began to sprint toward the doors we came in, firing wildly at any Troopers that crossed our path. Finally the door was in sight, and I felt a surge of success. That's when I heard the scream.

“NO!!” I heard Baillee’s voice cry out. We all turned just in time to watch Isaary crumble to the floor, a blaster hole in his chest. Instinctively, barely even looking, I shot my blaster at the head of the Trooper who killed him before he even had a chance to revel in his victory. 

That was the first time I had killed without feeling remorse. 

As I began to move towards Isaary’s body, Kamdeon had to drag me away. 

“We have seconds, Nova! We don’t have time!” 

I couldn’t even protest, I was in shock from the loss. I kept my eyes on the body of Isaary, the man who had become my friend over the past few months, the first of many of us to give our lives in the fight for freedom. In my mind I knew we would suffer losses today, but it was so much harder now that I was staring that fact in the face. 

I didn’t realize tears were flowing down my face until I felt the warmth on my cheeks and felt a few drops on my hand. Eventually Kamdeon brought me back to reality, and we all sprinted out of the doors just in time. We kept running and didn’t look back, even when we heard the explosion behind us. I could feel the heat on my back as I ran. And then I heard the blaster fire. 

They had seen the signal. 

The second part of our plan had begun. 

I had no way of knowing what was going on inside the cantina. Once we reached it, we joined the other Resistance members who were assigned to wait outside and take care of any fleeing Troopers. I could see the group of people who were disabling their speeders, and there were even some standing at the main entrance to the city, ready to ensure none could get away. I was proud of them for thinking of that and taking the initiative. It let me know everyone was taking this seriously, and desperately wanted the plan to succeed. 

All at once, Troopers began to run out of the Cantina and the firing began. There were screams from civilians running away in fear and confusion, and blaster fire whirring by, seeming to come from everywhere. Some Troopers ran for their speeders, only to find them destroyed, and then they were immediately shot down by the members waiting for them. Everywhere I saw white suits of armor dropping to the ground, as well as some Resistance members. I had to try to ignore the pain and feeling of guilt that plagued me when I saw my brave friends make the ultimate sacrifice. 

Running towards the edge of the city, I saw a Trooper desperately try to use his comms to call for backup from the nearest Star Destroyer, only to see him throw it on the ground in frustration when he realized that was now impossible. I quietly thanked Isaary for his sacrifice, for I knew the only way this plan would work was if there was no way for the Troopers to let anyone know this was happening. I then saw that Trooper fall to the ground at the hand of a Resistance member at the edge of the city. 

And in that moment, I knew we had already won. 

The fighting seemed to last for hours, but in the end it was all over in just one. It ended as quickly as it had begun. Suddenly the blasts just stopped firing. We all slowly looked around, blasters still raised and ready, but the only StromTroopers in sight were lying dead on the ground. Our members on the perimeter quickly ran to meet us, and said that none of them saw any Trooper get away, and no starship had taken off, as that would have been very visible in the open, blue sky.

I almost couldn’t believe it. We actually did it. 

But our victory came with a steep price. After the initial celebration of our victory, we all broke away from our hugs soberly, looking around at our friends who didn’t survive the fight. 

There were too many of them. 

With tears brimming, we gently gathered their bodies and organized for a burial to take place. Slowly, cautiously, people began to peek out of their homes and hiding places and step into the streets, silently taking in the carnage and the reality of what just took place. 

Then suddenly, one by one, the clapping began, which turned into cheering, and before I knew it, everyone was approaching us, the “brave Resistance fighters who rid the city of evil”, “The Liberators”. They began to hug us and shake our hands feverishly, thanking anyone with a blaster in their hand. I had no idea the beings of the city felt this way, but it appeared that everyone was suffering under the heavy hand of tyranny, and now they were finally free. 

Seeing everyone celebrate, a new light in their eyes, almost made all that we had lost worth it. 

We reveled in our success for a while before we turned to what we all knew needed to be done, but no one wanted to do. Some people who lived in the city offered us carts that we could use to carry those that had fallen out of the city so we could have a proper burial ceremony for them, and we thanked them as they helped us move our dead.

By the time we had moved everyone to a reasonable distance into the vast expanse of the desert, the twin suns had already begun to dip below the horizon, and the darkness was falling fast. We built a large bonfire quickly, and those who didn’t began to dig the large grave that we would soon lay those who sacrificed everything to rest in. Those who still weren’t working scoured the area for large rocks and stones so we could build a structure at the gravesite. I needed to ensure that this spot would always be remembered and revered.

Once all the preparations were complete, we began the solemn task of moving the bodies into the newly dug grave. I had never heard the desert so silent. The only noise that could be heard was the occasional sniffle as everyone cried silently, or the sudden loud sob of one of the survivors looking at the face of someone who was their friend. 

We all leaned on each other for support, and there was something healing about going through this experience together. Once everyone was finally laid to rest, one by one people began to turn to me. They were waiting for me to say something, but I felt that I was the least qualified to speak at this moment. It was my fault we were even having a funeral. If it weren’t for my plan, no one would’ve died today. But even though I knew no one saw the situation like that, I couldn’t shake the guilt.

I wondered if I would ever be able to. 

Drawing a shaky breath, I looked at the faces of the crowd and let my thoughts pour out of me. 

“I want to thank everyone here for your bravery and courage today. Thank you for choosing to stand for freedom and for what is right, when it would have been so much easier to hide in the shadows and keep your head down. 

“Because of you, every single one of you, the Resistance is one step closer to bringing down the First Order. I have no doubt that we are not alone, that all over the galaxy small bands are rising up to take back their cities and their planets. Our actions today started a ripple that will expand and grow far beyond our horizon, our sector, and reach the whole galaxy. We are the hope and fuel of the Resistance, and this day will not be forgotten.” I looked down into the no longer empty grave just feet from me, and swallowed the lump that formed in my throat. 

“And the sacrifices made today will not be forgotten. Our friends and family that we’ve lost today were not afraid to die. They were not afraid to stare death in the face and recognize it was for a greater purpose, that everything we do is for a greater purpose. Be comforted by the fact that those who we lost today did not die in vain. It is because of them that we were able to rid Tatooine of StormTroopers, and of the tyranny of the First Order. Those lying before us, now ascended to a new realm, will forever be remembered for their bravery and selflessness, for giving up their lives so other’s lives could be saved, so that we and the generations that follow us can live in freedom and without the pain of war.” 

My words may have been filled with hope, but there was turmoil within me as I tried to reconcile what all this loss was truly for. 

“We mourn those we have lost, and our grieving will take time, and it will not be easy. But those we mourn would not want our tears to fall forever. Instead, we should honor their death by continuing the fight they died for, by taking down the First Order, one step at a time. But most of all, we honor them by living lives worthy of their sacrifice, and remembering that we now carry the flame that they have passed on to us, the flame of hope that we must never let be extinguished.” 

There was a long moment where nothing happened, no one moved or spoke. It was as if everyone was frozen. Then, slowly, a small, frail figure hobbled to the edge of the grave. 

Deliberately Dya, our oldest and wisest member, who had once again narrowly bested the hand of death, bent over, grabbed a handful of sand, and gently tossed it into the grave. 

One by one, people followed her, until everyone had paid their respects. The grave was then filled all the way, and people began to slowly converse, as life seeped back into the crowd. There was still a weight that hung in the air, but I could feel it lighten, even if it was just by a little bit. 

As the fire grew faint people began to head back to their homes. But unlike the systematic, spread out, lonely treks that were undertaken after our Resistance meetings, now people went away in groups. With arms around each other, voices speaking loudly, no longer whispering in fear, but now letting their laughter reverberate across the dirt. We no longer had to cower in the darkness, constantly afraid of capture. Fear of the First Order was now in the past, destroyed along with the Troopers. 

Our days of living in the shadows were behind us, and we were finally free to bask in the light of the twin suns.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There you have it! We finally got to see the execution of Nova's big plan, and I'd say it was a success! But if Nova thought it was hard to keep the truth from Lux before, it's only going to get more difficult now. 
> 
> Also! Stick around, because we're one chapter closer until everyone's favorite Resistance pilot, Poe Dameron, makes an appearance! I promise he's coming, and I have big plans for him! Thank you so much for reading <3


	4. The Crash

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not much to say about this chapter except thank you so much for reading! I hope you're enjoying it! As always, I would LOVE any kudos, comments, or (nice) suggestions! 
> 
> Love y'all so much and may the force be with you!

News travelled fast on Tatooine, and secrets were never kept for long. Not that what we did was a secret, and I definitely wasn’t expecting it to go unnoticed, but when Lux came flying in our hut, panting and sweating, right as I was finishing dinner the next day, I wasn’t expecting him to know about it yet. 

“Nova!” His quick entrance into the room nearly made me drop the cup of blue bantha milk I was holding. 

“Gosh Lux, if I didn’t know better I would think you just ran all the way from Mos Eisley with the way you’re breathing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this red before!” I laughed as I took a glass of water to where he just sat down at our table. 

“Well, I practically did! I was in the city to trade some parts to repair that one vaporator that broke a few days ago, and you’ll never guess what I heard while I was there! I was so shocked I almost left without the part I needed because I just had to tell you as soon as possible.” I began to feel uneasy. I was pretty sure I knew what news he was about to share with me, and I was sure I already knew all of the details intimately. 

“Okay, so are you going to tell me or are you just going to keep setting the scene?” 

“If you would stop interrupting me I would’ve told you by now!” His voiced feigned annoyance, but the playful glint in his eye and the slight smile pulling at the corners of his mouth gave his intentions away. I put both my hands up to signify that I would back off, all while donning my best ‘I’m sorry, I won't interrupt anymore’ face.

“Apparently there  _ is  _ a Resistance group on Tatooine, and they attacked all the StormTroopers stationed here yesterday!” I knew he was looking for a giant reaction, and I did my best to give him what he was expecting. 

“Are you kidding? How could they do that?” I tried to say as little as I could as to not give myself away.

“Well, since all the Troopers were stationed in the city, it sounds like first they blew up their main building before opening fire and attacking the rest of them. If the rumors are true, none of the StormTroopers survived. Isn’t that the wildest thing you’ve ever heard?”

“Completely wild.”

“Now, you know I don’t like or agree with the First Order, and the Troopers were a real problem and nuisance whenever I went into the city, but doesn’t that seem a little...extreme?” I couldn't stop myself, and before I knew it I had cocked my head and furrowed my eyebrows. I was caught off guard by his words. 

“Extreme?” I shot back at him quickly, my tone a little more defensive and prodding than he was expecting, and more than I was, if I was honest. 

“I just mean that it seems their solution to end the violence was just...more violence” He spoke slowly, noticing that I was becoming guarded and tense. 

“But they did what they had to do so that we can finally live in freedom and not be suppressed by the First Order.” Then Lux did something I never expected him to do. He scoffed. 

“Maybe we’re free from the First Order, but now we’re just stuck under the oppressive hand of the crime lords and the raiders and the black market dealers. As long as we're on Tatooine, we’ll never be free.” I couldn’t find any words. We sat in silence for a few moments, the quiet hanging thick between us. 

“I didn’t know you were such a cynic.”

“I’m not being cynical, I’m being realistic.” Again, more silence. “I guess what I’m trying to say is that I just don’t really see the point.” 

His words echoed in my mind and hit my most sensitive nerve. From the moment I shot the first Stormtrooper yesterday, to staring at the grave I dug, full of Resistance fighters,  _ my  _ Resistance fighters, I was haunted by all the death and I wondered if it would be worth it. I tried to tell myself that it was, that killing Troopers was justified and that the sacrifice of my friends was noble, and that we had been successful. But deep down, I felt so guilty. And hearing Lux say the things that were swirling around my head, the things I wouldn’t even admit to myself, was too overwhelming. Lux could see in my eyes that something was bothering me, and instantly his tone shifted. 

“You’re upset.”

“No, no. I’m fine.” 

“I upset you. I knew I would.”

“Lux, really--”

“I mean, good for the Resistance, they did what they set out to do, I’ll give them that.” He paused for a long time, clearly trying to figure out how to say the next thing he wanted to say. “I know you support their cause, and I didn’t mean to talk badly about them.” He was being sweet, trying to make me feel better. If only he knew that his words hurt not because I was offended, but because I wondered if they were true.

“Lux, do you really think that what they did was for nothing? That it was pointless?” My head snapped up to meet his gaze, and I could feel that he wanted nothing more than to be able to see through my eyes and into my mind, to unlock what I was truly thinking. He sighed.

“No, I don’t think it was pointless. I think it was reckless, but not pointless. I understand why they did it.”

“Honestly?”

“Honestly.” I let out the breath that I didn’t realize I was holding.

“Good. I don’t think it was either.” I thought the more I said this, the more I would believe it. And now, knowing that Lux also thought this definitely made it a little easier to. Nodding, I got up from the table and began to put the dinner I made onto plates for the two of us. My back was still turned when I heard Lux’s voice. 

“Nov,” He hesitated. Something about the tone of his voice made me nervous. “you were there, weren’t you?” I froze where I stood.

“What do you mean?” I chose my words carefully, trying to keep my tone even.

“Were you there? Fighting? Were you one of the Resistance fighters?” I had a choice to make, to tell the truth or to lie, once again, to my best friend. And I couldn’t decide which to do.

“Why would you think that?” 

“I’m not blind, Nova. You disappeared all yesterday evening and didn’t return until late. Did you not think I heard you come in?”

“That doesn’t mean I was fighting.”

“It’s not just that. It’s the months of sneaking out late in the dead of night, coming back just before the suns rise. And it's the way you talk about it, the Resistance. Even how you talked about the fighting just now. You’re passionate about it, like it’s personal to you.” I didn’t know how I was going to get out of this one. 

“I believe in the cause, but I’m not-”

“-You can't keep lying to me, Novastra, I see right through you.” Hearing him use my full name was jarring, and it was a signal to me that he was serious. “I  _ know  _ you’re in the Resistance.” He was practically yelling at his point, but he caught himself and took a breath, calming himself. He continued with a much softer voice. “I think a part of me has known this whole time. I was just waiting to see how long you would try to keep it from me, and when you would finally trust me enough to tell me the truth.” I had never felt shame like this rise in me before. I felt like a child caught trying to sneak sweets from the kitchen, caught doing something she knew she wasn’t supposed to be doing. I felt like a fool. I took a long, shaky breath and finally made my choice. 

“You’re right, Lux. I’m in the Resistance. I was fighting yesterday. For the past few months I’ve been sneaking out to go to the meetings.” He nodded slowly, and I could sense that even though he believed that was the truth, that finally hearing it be confirmed still came with a bit of shock. It was as though I could see a weight settle on him. 

“Why did you feel like you had to hide that from me? I thought we didn’t keep secrets from each other. Family doesn’t keep secrets” 

“I know. I’m sorry. I just knew you didn’t agree with the Resistance and I didn’t want you to be upset with me. And we were all sworn to secrecy, we couldn’t risk the First Order catching wind of us for fear of what would happen if they found out.” He stayed silent after this, but I could feel that he was hurt as he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. “It’s not that I couldn’t trust you, it’s that I didn’t want to burden or worry you.” He nodded slowly, taking all the information in. 

“Is that everything?” 

“Not exactly.” He raised a suspicious eyebrow at me, and I couldn’t stand to look into his eyes. “I’m not just in the Resistance, I’m...the leader of it here on Tatooine.” It was clear by the expression on his face that he did not expect this at all. Everything else I had said before, a part of him already knew, but he would’ve never guessed this. Again, he stayed silent for a long while, and it was pure agony. I had no idea how he was going to react, and my mind immediately jumped to the worst conclusions. So I was surprised when I saw a small smile slowly tug at the corners of his mouth, a new twinkle in his eyes. 

“Why am I not surprised, Nov?” 

“So you’re not going to throw me out of the house and say you never want to see me again?” He couldn’t help but laugh. I always knew how to make him laugh.

“No, I’m not mad at you. I’m a little hurt that you kept this from me for so long, but I understand.” 

“Really?”

“Really. You’ve got so much of your parent’s spirit in you, I would be an idiot to really believe you weren’t in the Resistance.” I couldn’t help myself, I let out a small laugh while running over and hugging him tightly. As his arms closed around me, I finally felt like myself again. Finally, there were no more secrets between us,and the gaping chasm between us finally had a bridge we could cross.

“Thank you for understanding, Lux. I really am sorry for not telling you sooner, I shouldn’t have lied to you.”

“Of course I forgive you, how could I not forgive my little sister?” I hugged him tighter as my smile spread wide across my face and the joy returned to my heart. The bond between Lux and I was so strong, and I wondered if anything could separate us. He was the closest thing to family I had left, and I didn’t know what I would do without him. We may not have the same parents, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t my brother. “Nova?” I pulled away from our hug with one eyebrow raised.

“What’s that?” 

“I think you may be the worst liar on Tatooine.” He instinctively dodged as I hit his arm, pretending to be offended. His carefree laugh rendered me unable to keep my charade of anger for too long, and soon I was laughing along with him. 

That night over dinner we were finally able to speak freely about anything and everything, from the war to the city gossip. Once again, we were easy and open with each other, and I could take down the walls I had to build up around him for the last couple of months. I hadn’t heard Lux or myself laugh the way we did that night in too long, and for the time being it was as if there was no war, no external strife causing stress between us. It was just me and him in our simple hut on our humble desert planet, laughing the way we always had since we were kids running around playing pretend. We were better when we were together, truly together, and a piece of me naively hoped that’s how we would always be. 

* * *

For weeks our world was peaceful. The air-drought that had been plaguing Tatooine for months finally began to come to an end, and the vaporators on the Mainvin Moisture Farm were able to produce an abundance of water that we could sell in the market once again. This meant Lux and I didn’t have to spend as much time scrapping, so our days weren't as excruciating. We still had to every now and then, but not as much as we had before. Sure, we still faced the trials that came with living on a desert planet on the outer rim, but everyone was able to breathe a little easier now that the threat from the First Order was gone. I was still holding Resistance meetings, but now I was training them how to fight more effectively, going over strategies, and talking about the next steps for us on Tatooine. It wasn’t a secret that the only thing that still hung over everyone's heads was wondering if the First Order would ever find out about our actions and send punishment. This is why I insisted on keeping up our training and staying diligent. 

“Lux, I’m heading out to a meeting!” I called into our small hut as I moved toward the door. He still didn’t love that I was a part of the Resistance, but he respected my decision, recognizing that I was living my own life. His only condition was that I tell him when I was leaving to meet with them, and that we had no more secrets from each other. I agreed with him completely, and it was such a relief to not have to sneak around him anymore. 

“Be careful! Take your staff with you!” He always worried when I went out at night alone. 

“When do I ever leave the hut without this thing?” He poked his head out of his room just before I slipped out the door. 

“I know. Have a good meeting. Don't get too...revolutionary.”

“I’m not sure if you really understand the concept of the Resistance. We resist, it’s kinda the whole point.” He couldn’t stop himself from letting out a small laugh. 

“Get out of here, you’re gonna be late.”

“I’m the leader, Lux, I can’t be late. Everyone else is just early.” He rolled his eyes as he retreated back into his room. As I opened the door with a creak, his voice came calling out again. “But really, be careful!”

“Of course I will!” 

My staff securely in my hand, I closed the door behind me and stepped into the warm, still night. The meeting location wasn’t too far away that night, but I still kept a diligent watch on all my surroundings. Thankfully there was nothing lurking in the shadows, at least not then, and I made it to my destination quickly. Lux was right, I was the last one there, and so we began right away. I relished my time in the Resistance meetings. Standing in front of everyone who believed in the same cause that I did, who were willing to put everything on the line to fight, lit a fire within me unlike anything I had ever experienced. I felt so at home leading my group of rag-tag rebels, and it was a feeling I only felt one other time in my life: when I was flying. Every meeting I got a sensation deep within me, so small yet so real, a feeling that I was finally doing what I had been born to do. This was helped by the fact that I had grown to love every single person standing in that room with me. Ever since that fateful day that one of the more rambunctious, older teenage boys had named “The Battle of Mos Eisley”, we had truly become a makeshift family. We cared about each other and were invested in each other’s lives, and for the first time in my life, I had found a community. I would give my life for anyone in that room, even those I didn’t know as well, and I knew they would do the same for me. 

It was for that reason that I stayed behind after the meeting was over, talking to the woman and her husband who offered their home for the meeting that night. Both of them had been in the Resistance since it began, and fought bravely in the now-dubbed Battle of Mos Eisley. They were two of the people I had grown the closest to in my time with the Resistance. 

“So, Nova, did you ever tell Lux that you were in the Resistance?” Kagara, who was only a year older than me asked as she handed me a glass of Bantha milk. I had often confided in her my struggle of hiding my place in the Resistance from my best friend. 

“Well, he more so found out and I just couldn’t lie to him anymore.” Her husband Caltrey, who sat next to me at their table, nearly spit his milk out. 

“He found out? How did you let that happen? Didn’t you tell me once that if he ever found out, and I quote, he would ‘never be able to look at you the same way’?” I couldn’t help but smile at my friends' concern for me.

“I did say that once. But I guess he’s more observant than I thought he was, or he pays more attention to me than I do him, because he put the pieces together and confronted me after our little encounter with the StromTroopers. I had to tell him the truth.” 

“And?” Kagara looked at me expectantly from across the table. 

“And what?”

“Does he look at you differently?” If I was honest with myself, I didn’t know the answer to that question. On the surface it didn’t seem like he did, he didn’t even seem to care all that much. Especially the first few days after he found out, when I was the most worried about things becoming awkward, Lux put in extra effort to make sure nothing between us changed. But then there were times when I would catch him watching me out of the corner of my eye, when he thought I wouldn’t notice, almost as if he were trying to analyze me. Like he was trying to understand me. Nevertheless, I shook my head. 

“No, not really. Not that I can tell. He’s actually been really understanding about the whole situation.” Kagara and Caltrey shared a look, and I couldn’t quite make out what thought they had just shared. 

“That's...surprising.”

“Good.” Kagara quickly interrupted her husband. “That's  _ good _ .” 

“Ya, I think so. It seems that he was the most upset that I was lying to him, not that I’m in the Resistance.” Caltrey nodded his head as he took a sip of his Bantha milk. 

“That makes sense. I would be worried and upset if Kagara were sneaking around and not telling me why, or where she was going.” 

“Yes, but she’s your wife. That makes sense. I’m just Lux’s...” What was I? “friend.” There was that look between the two of them. And with the look, the energy in the room shifted, as if they knew something I didn’t. I felt uneasy, and I needed to know what the two of them were thinking. 

But I would never be able to ask that question, because just as I opened my mouth, the whole hut began to shake. Moments later, I heard the unmistakable sound of a spaceship flying low, too low, overhead at an extremely fast speed. I could tell by the noise that it wasn’t a small ship, but it also wasn’t too large, maybe the size of a freighter. But what would a freighter be doing flying over a remote Tatooine settlement at this hour? As soon as we realized what this sound was, all three of us were outside in an instant. 

“There!” Kagara had pointed at a beam of light that was going down fast not too far from us. A ship in distress. Crashing. The sound that followed confirmed that. 

“Looks like they landed in the dune sea, the poor guy’s a goner.” Kagara gave Caltrey a severe look. 

“That’s not a far trip, especially on a speeder.” I looked back at the two. “We should go see if they need help.” They both looked uneasy. 

“Nova, Tatooine is not a friendly place after dark.” 

“Especially to someone who doesn’t know the area.” I countered. “Even more of a reason to go and see if they need help.” Again, that look between the two of them.

“I think it's too dangerous.” Typical Caltrey. “If the person flying that thing even survived the crash, I’m sure they’ll be smart enough to stay in their ship until morning.” He made a fair point, but I couldn’t ignore the feeling rising in me that I needed to go out there and see who was on the ship, if they needed help, and why they were here. I knew I wouldn’t be able to explain it, but I needed to go to them. 

“Well I’m going. I understand if you two stay.” I looked at them for a moment, waiting for their reply, but they both stood silent. I took that as their answer. With a sigh and a tight grip on my staff, I turned and began the trek to where the ship had crashed. 

“Wait, Nova.” I heard Caltreys voice call out, causing me to turn back to them. “Take one of our speeders. It’s the least we can do.” 

“Thanks, Caltrey.” I smiled at him and he returned it, I could tell he was relieved that I wasn’t too mad. How could I be? Going out that far into the wilderness this late was all but unheard of, and the people who did venture out there never returned the same, if they returned at all. I would’ve never considered it, never even dreamt it, but now… it was as if this feeling that I couldn’t shake was guiding me, pushing me forward. It reassured me where I doubted myself. At least now with a speeder I would be able to make the journey quickly, and be able to make a fast getaway if anything tried to attack. Which, I admitted to myself, was more than likely. But the feeling within me told me that it didn’t matter, that I had to go.

“Come back here after you’ve done what you need to do so that we know you’re safe. I’m serious, I don't care what time it is. You come back and bang on our door, because I promise you I won’t be sleeping until then. I won’t be able to.” Kagara’s hug was filled with so much fear and worry that it almost convinced me not to go. But there was that feeling again, and my mind was set. 

“Try not to die out there, okay Nova?” I smiled at Calrey as he handed me the controls to his landspeeder. 

“That’s the goal.” I laughed before I looked back up at him, my eyes serious and as genuine as I could make them. “Thanks again for the speeder.” 

“It’s the least we could do.” I hopped on as Kagara called out,

“I’m not kidding about coming back here! I need to know when you’ve made it back safely.” 

“I’ll be back, don’t worry.” I could see in her eyes that she wasn’t so sure. “I promise!” And with one more reassuring smile, I powered up the speeder and began riding away towards the crash site. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ooooooh I wonder who's ship just crashed??? You'll have to read the next chapter to find out!!! You guys are so close :)


	5. The Two Strangers

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this one early for all my friends in the Space Girls Discord! I figured I shouldn't leave you in suspense for too long :)
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading, I would love and appreciate any comments, kudos, or (nice) suggestions! Love you all and, as always, may the force be with you!

To say that I was afraid while riding alone on a speeder through the dangerous Tatooine night, with nothing but a staff and my abilities to defend myself, would be an understatement. In the darkness every bush was a lurking animal, every pile of rocks was a sentient laying in wait, and every sound meant danger. I seriously considered turning back to the safety of the village when I began to smell burning, and not seconds later I saw the warm light of flames in the desert ahead of me. They weren't raging or very high, so I knew I had found the crash site. 

I slowed the speeder as I neared, and what I saw was not what I was expecting. Crashes on Tatooine weren’t very common, since being so far on the Outer Rim doesn’t bring us many beings just passing through, but they weren’t completely unheard of. But those crashes were usually small crafts, either damaged or out of fuel. I had never seen a large, smoking freighter crash before. 

“Hello? Is anyone there?” I called out in Basic, wondering if I should try other languages as well. When I got no response, I called out again in Huttese and Bocce and waited for a response. Still nothing. “Hello?” I called again as I slowly neared the crashed ship, whose flames had gone out and was now just smoking. My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I heard a voice call back from inside the ship,

“Hello? Yes! I’m in here!” Almost as soon as I heard the voice, a dark haired man came stumbling out of the ship, his face dirty and his clothes disheveled. I instinctively tightened my grip on my staff. 

“Are you alright? I saw your ship crash and wanted to make sure no one was injured.” 

“Yeah, we’re alright. Thank you.” Whoever this man was, I could tell he was nervous by his body language and the way he kept glancing backwards behind him, like he was looking for someone in the ship. But his voice didn’t display this, instead he sounded cool and collected. I didn’t know what to make of him. 

“We?” 

“Me and my co-pilot.” As if on cue, the distinct sound of a Wookiee could be heard coming from inside the now-smoldering ship. I had never met a Wookiee, but I knew their reputation, and it complicated things. 

“Is your co-pilot...a Wookiee?” The man shifted slightly and rubbed the back of his neck before flashing a dashing smile. Even in the dim moonslight, I could tell he was handsome. 

“Yeah, but don’t worry! Chew, um, he would never hurt a flii.” I was slightly reassured at his words, but something about his tone still made me cautious. Add that to the fact that this crash site could potentially be drawing the attention of the Sand People, and I was extremely on edge. 

“So, what’s the problem with your freighter?” As I stepped closer to the ship, the smell of smoke rushed into my nose and I had to stifle the cough that threatened to erupt suddenly. Smoke from the inside as well as the outside could only mean one thing, and I said at the same time the man did--

“The motivator.” 

He raised an eyebrow at me. “How did you know that?” 

“I’ve been flying ever since I was a kid, and I’ve been scrapping for the past few years. I pick up on things.” There were more noises from inside the ship which caused the brown-haired man to look back nervously. “Judging by the damage, and the fact that you crashed, I’d say the motivator is broken beyond repair. You may need to get another one.” The man clearly didn’t like this answer, and he rubbed his hand down his face before groaning in frustration. 

“I knew it.” He said quietly under his breath. As I stepped closer to the ship, I could see that it was an old model that was extremely beat up. No wonder it crashed. 

“Is this a Corellian Freighter? What model is this, YT-1350?” He gave me another quizzical look, as if he was trying to read me, before answering simply,

“YT-1300.” 

“1300?! No wonder this hunk of junk crashed, it’s nearly over 90 years old! Why are you even flying this thing?” The man’s demeanor suddenly changed, getting defensive. 

“Hey, this may be a hunk of junk, but it’s the fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, and it’s seen us, and my friends, out of some pretty tough situations, so I would be careful before you judge a starship by its coverings.” I didn’t have time to react before he stalked away back into the ship, presumably to help the distressed Wookiee inside. Something about what he said triggered something within me, like a memory that I didn’t know I had, and I stood there trying to remember. It was so close, if I just thought a little harder….he said ‘fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy’. It was a Corellian YT-1300 Freighter. Why did those things stand out to me? Why were they important? Then all at once, it clicked. I had heard those words before. Spoken by my parents while telling stories of the War. Telling stories of…

Without thinking, I rushed inside the ship, following the path the dark-haired man had taken. I didn’t know where I was going, but it was as if my feet did, and before long I was standing in front of the man and the Wookiee. They were shocked to see me, but they were even more surprised by the words that came out of my mouth. 

“This is the Millennium Falcon, isn’t it?” The two shared a glance before the man opened his mouth to speak.

“And why, um, why do you think that?” 

“Because I grew up on stories about it. My parents were Rebels in the Galactic Civil War, and would tell me about the “Fastest Hunk of Junk in the Galaxy”, the ship that saved the Rebellion many times. A Corellian YT-1300 Freighter modified so much it was hardly the ship it started out as. They would tell me about the brave pilots who flew it. About Han Solo.” I was suddenly overwhelmed by the possibility that I was actually standing in the ship of my childhood bedtime stories. The ship of my legends. “I know this is it.” 

Both the man and the Wookiee looked to the ground, the man letting out a sigh before replying,

“Yes. This is the Millennium Falcon.” 

My jaw dropped as he confirmed what I already knew within me, and I couldn’t stop the smile that spread across my face. 

“Holy Banthas,” I suddenly had another realization, “You must be Chewbacca!” My dad never told a story about Han Solo without talking about his right-hand Wookiee, and it was like I was face to face with one of my childhood heroes. Chewbacca nodded and responded in Shyriiwook in response, and I let out a small laugh. I couldn’t believe what was happening. 

I didn't have much time to dwell in my excitement, because at that moment a loud popping could be heard coming from deeper in the ship. Swearing, the man took off running, with Chewbacca following him, and instinctively I did too. It was no doubt the motivator, I would recognize that noise any day. When I caught up with them, it was smokier than the rest of the ship, and all three of us were coughing. 

“Chewie, I thought you said you fixed it!” The man shouted as he frantically pushed any button he thought would help solve the problem. I couldn’t understand the Wookiee, but it was clear by his tone that he did not appreciate being blamed for this. 

“It’s still the motivator.” I said, causing the two of them to turn around. It was almost as if they had forgotten I was there. 

“No, the motivator caused the crash. Now that we're not flying, it shouldn’t be affecting the ship.” The man’s tone was annoyed and matter-of-fact, like he was absolutely positive he couldn’t be wrong. But he was. 

“Not if it’s overheating, then it would continue to be a problem. Causing smoke and popping noises.” And as to prove my point, another loud POP rang through the cockpit, causing Chewbacca to call out in protest.

“No, it’s not the motivator.”

“I’m telling you, it is.” 

“Not possible, sweetheart.”

“Listen, Flyboy, I’ve been repairing ships since I could walk. Especially old garbage heaps like this one, so I don’t know who you are, but I would listen to me if you want to fix it in time to get your ship up and running again.” He opened his mouth to say something else, his eyes blazing, but then decided against it and closed it quickly. His stare held firm, however, and the intensity of his eyes rivalled the fire that was burning minutes ago. Here, in the light of the ship, I could see my speculations outside were correct--he was very handsome. 

No time to think of that now, though, as the ship continued to fill with smoke, I knew I needed to cool down the motivator as quickly as I could. That would not be an easy thing to do, however. 

The man sighed deeply as I held my gaze firmly on him. 

“Sweetheart, I don’t even know your name. So forgive me if I don’t-” He was cut off by Chewbacca, and whatever he said did not make the man happy. “What?!” He nearly shouted. 

“What did he say?” The man ignored me, though, and turned towards the Wookiee in annoyance. 

“Well why didn’t you say that earlier?” 

Another response from the Wookie. 

I rolled my eyes, accepting that he wasn’t going to translate for me, and I began to look around for the motivator so I could open the panel and try and cool it. If he wasn’t going to listen to me and fix the problem, then it looked like I was going to have to do it myself. 

“Chewie said that you might be right.” It took me a few moments to realize that the man was talking to me, and I turned at him, no doubt my surprise clear on my face.

“Oh, so you’re done ignoring me?” I couldn’t tell if the man scoffed or rolled his eyes. 

“He  _ said  _ that the motivator has overheated in the past, and a similar thing happened then that's happening now.” I couldn’t help but smirk triumphantly. 

“Well look at that. Turns out the desert dwelling girl from Tatooine was right.” He definitely rolled his eyes at this, getting more annoyed by the second. He stalked over to one of the panels and opened it, causing smoke to billow out more than it already was. 

“Is that the motivator?” I asked, not fully expecting a response. At this Chewbacca said something, but judging by the man’s “Shut it, Chewie.”, I guessed it wasn’t something I was going to be privy to. 

“Yes, it’s the motivator.”

“Okay, you need to cool it down.” 

“Thank you, I never would’ve guessed that since it's overheating.” 

I was starting to wonder if I had made a mistake by coming to his aid, as he was making this situation significantly more difficult than it needed to be. 

“Just find something to do it.” I said sharply. “Do you have any Cooling Agent on this ship?” The man looked up at nothing in particular, deep in thought. There was silence for a few moments before the Wookiee spoke again. 

“No.” 

“Well, I’m not sure if you can fix it then. It might cool off on its own, but it’ll take a while. You likely won’t be able to take off ‘till morning.” This caused the man to slam his hand on the console and swear, which startled me. 

“That’s what I was worried about.” For the first time since I stepped onto the Millennium Falcon, the man's tone was genuine and, if I listened closely, a little fearful. It was vulnerable, his eyes had softened, and his brow was furrowed in concern. Seeing him like this made something inside me lurch, and I was speaking without fully realizing what I was saying.

“If that is the case, it won’t be safe to stay here with all this smoke. And you definitely can’t camp out outside the ship. You can come with me for the night, and in the morning if the motivator hasn’t cooled we can go into the cityport to try and find something to fix it.” I didn’t know who was more surprised--me at my own words, or the man and the Wookiee. He looked at me as if I had just sprouted Bantha horns out of my head. 

“That’s...kind. Thank you. But I don't think-”   
The man was once again interrupted by Chewbacca, who sounded insistent. This was followed by another sigh from him, who looked more resigned after whatever Chewbacca had said to him. “On second thought, we will take you up on that offer. If that’s not too much to ask.” He said the last bit with a little fire, shooting daggers at the Wookiee, which no doubt was because of whatever the creature had just said. 

“Oh, not at all. Plus, it’s much safer than staying out here. There’s no telling what the Sand People might do if they find this ship, and you two had better not be on board if they do.” This made the man raise his eyebrows in concern, but he didn’t make a comment about it. 

“Okay then. Let us, um, gather our things. You can wait in the loading bay, we’ll be right out.” I nodded as they left the cockpit and I followed, waiting for them to gather all that they needed for the night. 

Once alone, I finally had a chance to try and process all the information I had just learned very quickly. The fact that I was standing on the Millennium Falcon, I had just met Chewbacca, and I had invited him, and his partner, to take shelter in my home. I still had no idea who the man with him was, but I could only assume he was a member of the Resistance. 

Despite all the excitement and adrenaline that began to course through me, I also felt that all-too familiar pang of loneliness that followed me wherever I went ever since I lost my parents. How I wished I could share this moment with them, I wished they could see me standing on the ship my father always raved about, talked about as if it were a legend. Now, standing here, it seemed so much more...real than I thought it would. The familiar smell of metal that came with all ships, the comforting beeps and pops of the console. It hit me that with all the tales told about the Millennium Falcon, the countless bedtime stories passed down to younger generations, through all that time, it was still, at the end of the day, just a starship. 

Something about this revelation comforted me. 

* * *

“I don’t think I ever caught your name.” I said to the handsome, dark-haired man as I led them through the desert back towards my home. My grip on my staff was tight, and only half of my mind was on the question I had just asked, the majority of my thoughts on our surroundings. I was caught off-guard by the man’s initial response: a laugh. More of a chuckle, and it was almost as if he didn’t mean to release it. 

“I guess the two of us didn’t have the best introduction, did we?” I echoed his laugh, although mine felt heavier. I wondered if he was avoiding the question on purpose. “I’m Poe. Poe Dameron.” He stopped walking to turn and shake my hand, which surprised me. After a moment, I took his outstretched hand. 

“Novastra.” 

“Novastra...I’ve never heard that name before. It’s beautiful.” Poe’s compliment was so sudden I felt a hot blush rush to my cheeks, and I was suddenly thankful for the darkness surrounding us.

“Oh, thanks. Most people just call me Nova, though.” 

“Nova.” He repeated, softer. “Nice to officially meet you, Nova.” The bravado and confidence that I remembered from the Falcon was back in his voice and he continued walking. Chewbacca then said something that I, of course, couldn’t understand, but Poe ignored it, so I figured it couldn’t have been that important. 

“How much farther until we get to where we’re going?” Poe asked after a few moments walking in silence. 

“It’s not much farther. Our farm is on the outskirts of our small village, I’d say we’re only two or three klicks away.” 

“Your farm?” 

“I live and work on a moisture farm. It’s pretty much the only way to make money here on Tatooine. Well, the only legal way to make money, other than scrapping.” 

Chewbacca made another sound, this time longer and more agitated. I could tell by his tone that, whatever he said, he wasn’t happy. “What did he say?” I asked Poe quietly. 

“He said he doesn’t like Tatooine, that he told himself he would never come back. Apparently he has some not-so-fond memories here.” Poe looked apprehensive relaying this message, but I couldn’t stop myself from laughing. He clearly didn’t know that nobody hates Tatooine more than the people living there. 

“That doesn’t surprise me. Most people who make it off this godsforsaken rock alive never come back. That’s what I’m trying to do, anyways.” The moonslight was dim, but I could see as slight confusion washed over Poe’s face. 

“You want to leave?” I, once again, couldn’t suppress my laughter. 

“I’ve wanted to leave since I was old enough to know where I was. I can’t explain it, but there’s something about this planet...I just know this isn’t my home. There’s a feeling, an ache deep within me, pulling me away from here, out to the stars. I want to jump in a ship and not look back until Tatooine is a tiny speck behind me.” There was silence for a few moments. 

“Where would you go?” 

“Anywhere. Everywhere.” 

“Everywhere, huh?” The glint in Poe’s eyes was clearly visible.

“Yes. I’ve heard of these things...oceans? Whole vast stretches of water as far as the eye can see. I can hardly even imagine something that beautiful. I want to see an ocean.” I was so lost in my fantasy of escaping this prison of a planet that I almost didn’t notice the lights in the distance.

“Is that the village?” The man’s voice brought me back down to earth, out of the stars.

“Yes, that’s it. You see those lights over there?” I pointed to the lights on the farthest edge of the village. “That’s the farm.” 

“It looks...pretty big.” I smiled as I began to walk toward the lights.

“It’s bigger than average. The Mainvins own a commercial farm, so it’s larger than a family farm would be. But it’s nothing compared to the Darklighter farms, we own more than 20 all across Tatooine, the biggest are twice the size of this one.”

“We?” I was starting to see that Poe was very inquisitive, and picked up on a lot of things. 

I sighed before starting to explain. 

“My last name is Darklighter. My family on my father's side owns all those farms I was just talking about. But when my dad and his brother, my uncle, left the family business to fight in the Civil War, my grandparents disowned them. They wouldn’t even take me in when...when my parents died. That’s why I live and work on the Mainvin farm, they were my parents' closest friends.” 

“Oh.” Was all that Poe replied. We walked for a few more minutes in silence as the lights grew brighter and closer. I hadn’t planned on sharing that part of my life with the stranger, or my dreams about leaving Tatooine, but it was as if I were talking without my own control. As if something deep within me was guiding me in what to say against my better judgement. I didn’t like the feeling. 

It wasn’t until we were steps away from the door that a wave of anxiety washed over me. I knew Lux wouldn’t like this. 

“Okay.” I began as I stopped in front of the door and faced the two of them. “Before we go in, I have to tell you one more thing...I don’t live alone. I live with my best friend, Lux. He’s probably not going to be thrilled about this whole situation, but just leave it to me and I’ll handle him.” The two shared a look before Poe nodded. 

“I’ll follow your lead.” He said simply. 

“Good.” I tried to put on a brave face and mask the apprehension that was rising in me, but I knew I probably wasn't doing a great job at that. 

“Lux!” I called as I slowly creaked the door open. I wasn’t even inside yet before the yelling began. 

“Novastra Darklighter! I’ve been worried sick! You were supposed to be home hours ago! Where were you?” 

I could hear a small “oh” escape from Poe’s mouth as I stood looking at Lux with my back to the door, blocking my two guests as best as I could. It was pretty hard to block the Wookiee, though. 

“Lux, I know. I’m sorry. But I can explain!” 

“That’s what you always say, Nova, and I feel like your explanations never actually help.”

“Lux, I-.”

Lux shook his head as he moved closer to me. “Nov, you were supposed to be back from your meeting hours ago. I know you have to walk a long way alone, and you know I hate that. Just thinking about the Sand People, and something happening to—“

“—Lux, please, not now. This time I have a good reason for being late.”

“I’m all ears.” I took a deep breath and mustered the courage I would need to tell him that two strangers needed to stay in our hut tonight. Growing up on Tatooine doesn’t make you a very trusting person. 

“Well, right as I was about to leave Calrey and Kagara’s, a freighter crashed somewhere in the dune sea. It flew right over us and we all saw it start smoking. I knew I couldn’t just leave it there, so I went to see if there was anyone at the crash site that might need help-”

“-you did  _ what _ ?” Lux interrupted. “You went into the Dune Sea at night to...investigate a crash site?! Nova! There was no telling who could’ve been on that ship! This is not some peaceful planet like...like....Naboo! This is  _ Tatooine _ ! There could’ve been dangerous bounty hunters on that ship and you could be  _ dead  _ right now!” 

“Lux, I know. And I’m sorry for being careless, but I just had a feeling that I needed to-” 

“-Oh you and your ‘feelings’ Nova. I swear, I’ll never understand you.” Lux took a seat at the table and rested his head in his hands. I knew he wouldn’t be happy, but I would have never guessed that he would have this explosive of a reaction. It made me worried about what I knew was coming next. 

“Well, it wasn’t bounty hunters.” I said in a small voice as I shifted nervously in front of the door that I still had propped open. 

“Aren’t you lucky then?” I sighed as he looked up at me, his hard eyes softening ever so slightly. “I’m sorry I’m yelling, Nov. But you know how worried I get.” 

“I know.” 

“Well, despite it all, I’m glad that you’re alright and that we can just put this behind us.” I took in a deep breath, trying to push down my apprehension.  _ Here we go  _ I thought. 

“Actually...we can’t exactly put it behind us. Not yet, anyways.” Lux narrowed his eyes at me and I could tell he was getting defensive again. 

“What do you mean?” 

“Like I said, they weren’t bounty hunters or anyone dangerous. They were...Resistance fighters.” 

“Oh, Novastra.” Was all that Lux said as he put his head in his hands once again. 

“The motivator on their ship was overheating and it was unsafe to stay in there with all the smoke, and obviously they couldn’t camp outside in the Dune Sea, so I-”

“-You told them they could stay here, didn’t you?” To my surprise, Lux wasn’t angry. At least, he didn’t sound angry. He sounded more annoyed with just a hint of resignation. But I would take that over anger anyday. 

“Yes.” I replied sheepishly. 

“Are they standing outside right now?” He still had his head in his hands.

“Yes they are.” At this, Lux let out a deep sigh before slowly lifting his head. 

“Wonderful.” He shrugged. “Well, let them in. I guess they can sleep on the floor in here, I’ll look for some extra blankets.” I broke out into a wide smile as I ran over and flung my arms around him. 

“Thank you! You know you’re the best, right Lux?” I heard him let out a small chuckle, even though he was trying very hard to keep his annoyed demeanor. 

“Oh,  _ I  _ know I am. It’s  _ you  _ who needs to remember that. And you owe me one after this, Nova.”

“Of course! Anything!” I broke away from the hug and walked over to the door, which was still propped slightly, and opened it all the way. 

“Okay, you can come in now.” Both Poe and Chewbacca looked incredibly uncomfortable, and I immediately knew they had heard every word that was just spoken. Poe tried to put on a confident face before saying,

“If it’s too much trouble, I’m sure we can find somewhere else to stay for the night.”

“Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Poe, was it? There is nowhere else to stay. And besides, it’s really all right. Lux is...well, Lux. But he’s fine.” With that, led the way into our hut and I turned back to them just in time to see Chewbacca crouch down into the doorway. 

“Sorry, Chewbacca,” I still couldn’t believe I was talking to  _ The  _ Chewbacca, “it’ll be a bit of a tight fit for you.” He responded while shaking his head, and his tone sounded nice, so I wasn’t surprised when Poe translated, 

“He said it’s alright, and he says thank you for letting us stay here.” I smiled kindly at the Wookiee, 

“Of course, it’s no problem at all. Make yourselves comfortable, well, as comfortable as you can.” 

The two of them began to look around the room, not that there was much to look at, and I tried to think of something to say that could break the silence when Lux reentered with some blankets. 

“This is Lux Mainvin, the one I told you about.” I said to Poe and Chewbacca as I gestured toward the man who was clearly uncomfortable with two strangers in his house. 

“Here are some blankets, not that I think you’ll be cold or anything. You could lay them on the ground, though, it may make it more comfortable.” He awkwardly handed them a few old, worn out blankets that I had never seen before and Poe took them gingerly, flashing Lux a wide smile. I was caught off guard by that smile every time I saw it. 

“Thank you. And thank you for letting us stay for the night. Your friend, Nova, was very kind to let us. I hope we’re not too much of an intrusion.” Poe handed some blankets to Chewbacca and he began to lay them out on the floor. 

“Oh,” Lux began, clearly caught off guard by Poe’s civility, “it’s not that big of a problem, as long as you promise not to rob the place in our sleep!” I wasn’t sure how Lux’s sad attempt at a joke would land, especially because he wasn’t totally kidding, but Poe laughed along with him.

“We promise.” he replied as he stuck out his hand to Lux, who took it and shook it firmly. At that moment, Chewbacca also finished laying out his blankets and said something that I could only guess at, but that Poe confirmed a second later. “Chewie says thanks, too.” At this Lux’s eyes went wide, as he was hit with the realization I had while aboard the Falcon. 

“Chewie? Did you say Chewie? As in, Chewbacca?” Poe smiled as he let out a chuckle and Chewie said something that did not get translated. 

“Yes,  _ The  _ Chewbacca.” Poe flashed another one of his gorgeous smiles, “And I’m Poe. Poe Dameron. It’s great to meet you.”

“You see why I trusted them now, Lux?” I cut in. “They’re with The Resistance. They’re on our side.” Lux nodded his head slowly as he snapped himself out of his star-struck gaze. 

“Yes, I understand now, Nov.” There was silence for a few moments before Lux let out an over exaggerated yawn. “Well, it  _ is  _ late. We should all be getting some sleep.” We nodded in agreement and I turned toward the guests before following Lux towards the hallway that led to our rooms. 

“I hope you two can sleep well, and if you need anything, my room is the second one down the hall, don’t hesitate to knock.” I gave them a smile, which Poe returned, which made something inside me flutter, before saying “goodnight, then.” and turning towards my room. I found Lux standing in my doorway, which wasn’t visible from the space Poe and Chewbacca were settling into. 

“Just when I think nothing you can do could surprise me anymore.” Lux teased as he smiled at me. I playfully nudged his shoulder as I replied, 

“Oh, come on. They needed help, so I helped. It’s nothing you wouldn't have done.” 

“For a friend, absolutely. But for two total strangers! That’s just plain crazy.” He was smiling, but I could tell there was truth behind his words. As much as he tried to hide it, he was still uneasy.

“I know, it probably wasn't the  _ smartest  _ thing to do-” 

“ _ -probably _ ?” 

“-But _ ,  _ I just had this-”

“-do  _ not  _ say feeling-” 

“ _ -feeling _ about it.” At this, Lux sighed and rolled his eyes, but his smile never wavered. 

“You and your  _ feelings _ , Nov.” I smiled up at him. 

“You know me.”

“Yeah, I do.” He pulled me into a hug that I returned and settled into. Lux was one of the only people I allowed myself to have my guard down around. “I’m just glad you’re safe.” He added, a little softer. A little more...sincere. I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I just stood there, arms around him, until we pulled away and shared another smile. He ruffled my hair after a moment and began to walk towards the door. 

“Goodnight, Lux. Thanks for always looking out for me.” He turned to look at me before replying,

“Goodnight, Nov.” 

As I settled into bed, I couldn’t stop my mind from racing. Two Resistance fighters were in my living room, and one of them was Chewbacca, best friend of Han Solo, both the legends of my childhood bedtime stories. As I finally began to drift to sleep, one thought kept replaying over and over again,

_ ‘This just may be my ticket out.’ _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There he is! Everyone's favorite Resistance pilot! Poe's finally here, and now its time for the story to get rolling! Again, thank you so much for reading :)


	6. The Complication

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry it has taken me so long to update this chapter! School has started back up so I've had less time to write, but here you (finally) go! I'm very happy with how this one turned out, there's a lot of big and confusing feelings in this one, so I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it! 
> 
> As always, I would love your kudos, comments, and (kind) suggestions! Love you all for reading this and may the force be with you <3

The low, unmistakable sound of conversation woke me the next morning. I panicked for a slight second, wondering why I was hearing male voices coming from my kitchen, but then I remembered last night--the crash. The two Resistance fighters. The two Resistance fighters that I had invited to stay the night in my living room. Lux’s better- than-anticipated-but-still-not-great reaction. The sense of panic receded but it was replaced by something different. Apprehension. I got out of bed slowly, not in any rush to start my day, and put on my day clothes and brushed my hair, putting it into my signature braids, before leaving my room. I didn’t usually get ready before heading to breakfast, but something about the dark-haired pilot made me want to look slightly more presentable than I usually look in the mornings. With a yawn, I rounded the corner to the kitchen to see Poe and Chewbacca sitting at the table, Chewbacca admittingly looking a little squished, and Lux standing by the counter with a cup of untouched caf and breakfast. 

“Well good morning, Nova.” Lux raised his eyebrow at me, not noticeable enough for our guests to pick up on, but I knew it was a reaction to my appearance. I usually dragged my feet to the kitchen in the mornings, unable to hold a conversation until at least one full cup of caf. 

“Good morning.” I sat next to an empty seat at the table next to Poe and motioned to the plate next to Lux, “Haven’t eaten yet?” That was unlike him. The complete opposite of me, Lux usually rose before the suns and was halfway done with his chores at this hour. 

“Banthas, no. We already ate. This is for you.” With a smile, Lux brought the plate and drink over and placed it down in front of me. He rarely made breakfast for me, usually only on special occasions, and I could tell he was just trying to make a good impression on the two strangers. 

“Wow, that's very kind, Lux. Thank you.” I took a sip of the steaming caf, relishing in the bitterness and the warmth as it slid down my throat, settling into the way it made my heart race just slightly. It wasn’t until after I had taken a few more sips that I noticed Poe was looking over at me. I met his gaze and he looked away towards Lux quickly, 

“Thank you again, Lux, for breakfast. It was delicious.” 

“It was nothing, you're our guests.” Came Lux’s humble reply, filling up his own cup with more tea. Lux had never been a caf drinker. 

Chewbacca's voice cut through the air, and it didn’t take Poe’s translation to know that he was also thanking Lux for the meal. I was slightly embarrassed that I had slept so much longer than everyone else in my house, but it was our one day a week that we didn’t have to get up with the suns, and I was not about to give that up. To make up for this, though, I ate my food quickly. I didn’t pay much attention to the conversation Poe and Lux were having, from what little I caught it seemed like they were discussing their favorite foods, and before long I had taken my empty plate and cup to the counter, placing the plate in the sink and refilling my cup. I stayed standing, facing the table, and leaned back against the counter. The boys’ conversation had lulled, so I felt it was a good time to change the subject. 

“So, Poe, what were you wanting to do about your motivator?”

Poe’s face fell and his mouth formed a thin line, as if he hadn’t thought about his damaged ship yet and he didn’t like the reminder. “Well, I would like to go back and see if it's cooled down enough. If not,” he rubbed the back of his neck, and I tried with everything in me to ignore his arms as he did so, “then I guess I’ll have to go into town and see if I can find a new one.” 

I nodded, taking a sip of my caf before replying, “Finding a motivator for your hunk of, er, your ship won’t be easy...but I think I know the place that would be your best shot.” It looked as if Poe was going to say something about my ‘hunk of junk’ comment, I saw his eyes dance with playfulness for a moment, but he ultimately decided against it. 

“If you could tell us how to get to where you’re thinking, that would be a big help. And then we can be on our way and get out of your hair very soon.” 

Something about the thought of them leaving made my heart sink, and I could feel a knot, no, a pit forming in my stomach. They couldn’t leave. Not without  _ me _ . “It would probably be best if I went along with you,” I tried to make it sound like I was doing them a favor and not like I didn’t want them to leave, “Tatooine is not a very friendly place.” Chewbacca spoke in what I could only assume was agreement, and Poe nodded slowly. 

“Okay, I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt having you tag along.” He didn’t sound thrilled about it, but at least he agreed. 

Lux, on the other hand, didn’t agree. 

“Nova, can I speak with you?”

I honestly should've expected that. 

I held his eye contact for a moment before sighing and walking out of the kitchen. I could feel Lux trailing behind me and I heard Poe and Chewbacca start a quiet conversation as we rounded into the hallway. 

“Are you sure it’s smart for you to go with them?” Lux’s tone was one I was all too familiar with. Worried. Questioning. More of a statement than a question. 

“They just spent a night in our living room and you still don't trust them?” 

“It’s not that I don’t trust them,” Lux let out a sigh, and I could tell he was trying to figure out how to finish his thought.

I finished it for him.

“So you don’t trust me, then.” I knew I was probably being unfair, but Lux’s overbearing concern for me was starting to get old. 

“No, Nova, that’s not it.”

“Well then what is it? We don’t have many chores today, and now that the drought is letting up we don’t have to scrap as much.”

“I know, it’s not about that.” He was being evasive and cold, which wasn’t like him at all.

“I’m just trying to help them.” I said after a few moments of tense silence. Lux let out a breath that I didn’t know he was holding in. 

“I know,” his tone was lighter now, more understanding, “but Resistance fighters or not, they’re still strangers…” he trailed off as though he wanted to say more, but didn’t know how. There was silence for a moment, a long moment, before he finally let it out, “Haven’t you done enough for them?” I was stunned. This was not like Lux. 

“Lux…” I breathed out, my tone one of surprise and borderline disgust. It was the only thing I could think to say. 

“I know that sounds terrible, Nova, but I think they’ll be fine on their own now. The suns are up and town isn’t too far away. They seem capable of handling themselves.” 

“So that means I shouldn’t help them?”

“It means you don't  _ need  _ to help them. Not anymore.” 

“Just because I don't  _ need  _ to doesn’t mean I shouldn’t.” I shot back, my tone biting. Something was wrong, something  _ felt  _ wrong. There was a reason Lux was being so cold towards Poe and Chewbacca, towards their situation, but I just couldn’t figure out what it was. 

Something in his eyes told me he knew I wouldn’t let up, I hardly ever did, and he deflated. “Fine.” The word was short. Clipped. Cold. 

He was not happy with me. 

“Fine.” I responded, my tone mirroring his. If there was one thing I couldn't stand, it was being told that I couldn’t do something. I was raised to believe I could do anything I set my mind to, and that if others say I can't, to turn around and prove them wrong. It's the rebel in me, passed down from my mother and father, and she was growing louder and stronger with each passing day. 

I held his gaze for a moment, wishing he would say something to make the situation less tense, to make everything okay between us, but when he broke my gaze and looked down at the floor, I knew that hope was in vain. A new feeling of frustration rising within me, I turned and stomped into the kitchen, causing Poe and Chewbacca to stop in the middle of their conversation and look up at me as I stalked over to the table to pick up my cup of now-lukewarm caf. 

“I don’t mean to insert myself where I shouldn’t,” Poe began cautiously, as if he was scared every word brought a new chance for me to erupt, “but is everything okay?” 

“Completely fine.” I replied, not looking at him and taking a sip of my drink. There was a tense silence, and I wondered how much the two had heard. 

“I really don’t want to cause trouble between you two.” Poe added, his tone still careful. 

I put my cup down with a little too much force, not being able to enjoy the drink now that it was no longer hot. “No trouble at all.” I said a little too politely, finally meeting his dark eyes and smiling. That didn’t seem to ease his worries. 

“We appreciate your help, we really do, but if it’s too much to ask for you to come to town with us then I’m sure we can manage—“

“—I’m coming with you. Lux may not like it, but it’s not up to him.” I couldn’t be sure, but I thought I saw the faintest hint of a smile cross Poe’s face. 

“Okay then.” He stood up from the table, Chewbacca following him, and began to walk over to the living room where their stuff was strewn all about the floor. “We’d better get ready.” He said it to The Wookiee, but I took it as a cue for me too. 

I went to my room to get my bag and my staff and was walking down the hall when a pang of guilt hit me. I was right in front of Lux’s closed door, and the cold silence radiating from it was palpable, making my heart sink. 

He was only trying to look out for me, I knew that. He worried about me, because Tatooine is a dangerous place for anyone, especially a young woman, and I knew that. All of his caution, even though overbearing, came from a place of genuine love and goodness. 

And I knew that. 

But I could handle myself, and I am smart, and I know how to survive in the unforgiving desert. I’ve been there as long as he had, it’s not like I didn’t know my way around the sands. I was capable, and I knew that. 

But so many times it seems like he didn’t know that. 

And that’s what always made me so frustrated. 

Swallowing my pride and my guilt, I lightly knocked on his door. It was a few seconds before Lux’s tense reply came. 

“What?” 

“We’re about to leave,” I said simply. 

More silence. I was about to walk away when his reply came, his voice softer but still guarded, 

“Be careful, Nova.” 

A part of me wanted to open his door and apologize for being so defensive, apologize for everything over the last couple of months, but instead I just stood there. Staring at his sand-colored door. Waiting for it to open, although I knew it wasn’t going to. Instead of an apology, all I could squeak out was, 

“I will.” I tried to make my tone match his, I tried to make it light and sincere. Caring. I wanted it to be enough for him to know I was sorry without having to say those words. I felt like I had always been able to read Lux’s mind, but now I felt like that connection was breaking, the bond between us loosening as our hearts drifted further and further apart. 

And I knew it was my fault. 

I willed my eyes to look somewhere,  _ anywhere _ , besides his door, and I forced my feet to move out of the hallway and into the living room, back to Poe and Chewbacca. 

I didn’t say anything, my thoughts still occupied by Lux, when Poe broke the silence. 

“We’re ready when you are.” He snapped me out of the swirling sandstorm in my head and I met his eyes. 

“Let’s get going then.” 

* * *

The Twins were already creeping towards the center of the sky, which meant two things: heat and a time limit. I worried that we wouldn’t be able to get to their ship,  _ The Millennium Falcon, _ I reminded myself, and into Mos Eisley before night fell. If only Lux hadn’t sold his landspeeder a few seasons ago then we would still have two and we could take those. I would entertain the thought of riding our eopies, but I seriously doubted they would be able to support the weight of a Wookiee. I was beginning to wonder if Lux was right, if I should just let them go on their own when I saw it. If it weren’t sitting in front of me I would have forgotten completely. But there it was, right next to my own landspeeder:

The speeder Kagara and Calrey let me borrow just the night before, which, technically, I still had to give back to them. I silently berated myself, remembering that I told them I would bring it back to them when I was done and let them know I was safe. I felt a wave of guilt imagining the thousands of scenarios running through Kagara’s anxious mind.  _ I’ll have to bring it back to them today _ , I thought before calling out to the two boys. 

“We can take these speeders to your ship and then into town. It’ll be a lot faster than walking, and we’ve already lost daylight so doing whatever we can to save time is best.” The two shared a look before walking over to me and the speeders. 

“There’s only two.” Poe said, looking down at them. The look on his face told me he wasn’t impressed. Sure my landspeeder was almost as old as I was, and Kagara and Calreys wasn't too much better, but they worked.

Bold of him to judge my speeders when his ship looked the way it did, Millennium Falcon or not. 

I shrugged. “We’ll have to share. It’s better than walking.” At that, Chewbacca said something that Poe did not like and quickly disagreed with, and the two of them went back and forth for a few moments. With one final “Fine!” from Poe, he turned to me. 

“Chewie says he doesn’t want to share with me.” 

Another interruption from the Wookiee, and an eye roll from the man. 

“Alright, he says he doesn’t think we’ll both fit on one speeder.” I agreed with the Wookiee, the speeders were made for one person, and definitely not one person and a Wookiee. But even though I knew he was right, something about the thought of sharing my speeder with Poe made my stomach swirl, but not in a bad way. It was almost a fluttery way.

I didn’t like it. 

“He’s probably right.” I managed to say, my voice steady and masking any uneasiness I felt. “You’ll have to share mine, then.” Poe nodded, the expression on his face undecipherable, and I quickly walked the short distance to the speeder. I got on mine and started it, scooching as close to the front as I could to give Poe room behind me. Chewbacca got onto his, but instead of feeling Poe slide in behind me, he just stood next to the speeder. 

“Oh,”

“What?” I looked up at him with an expression of what I’m sure was confusion. 

“I just…” he rubbed the back of his neck, looking slightly nervous. Throughout all of the events of last night and this morning I hadn’t seen him be nervous once. I wondered what was causing it now, of all times. “I guess I’m just used to being in the pilot's seat.” 

I couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle. “Well, this is my speeder, so I thought I’d drive it.” I smiled up at him, a playful glint in my eye. “If that's alright with you.” I could tell by the look in his eye that he picked up on my sarcasm, and his nervous demeanor shifted. I chose to ignore the small eye roll he gave before he begrudgingly sat on the speeder in the space behind me. 

I should've been expecting it, but the sudden sensation of his hands on my sides sent shivers up and down my spine and I instinctively tensed up. He must've felt my discomfort, because he spoke quickly and his voice had lost the bravado he usually spoke with. 

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you, I just thought that if I put my hands on your shoulders it would impede your steering, so I--” 

“--It’s fine, Poe. Really. I’m sorry for reacting the way I did. I should've been expecting it, it's just...” What was it? Sure, the only person I usually got any physical touch from was Lux, but that was just friendly hugs and a brotherly arm around my shoulder while walking, and only if Lux was in a good mood. But deep down, I knew it wasn't because I wasn’t used to it. I knew it wasn’t because the desert had made me calloused and guarded, unaccustomed to gentleness. I knew it was something else, and maybe it had to do with his golden-brown eyes…

Thankfully Chewbacca interrupted so I didn’t have to finish my thought, not that I had any clue how I would've finished it, anyways.

“He asked if we should get going?” 

“Yes, let's go.” 

Pushing down that sensation in my stomach that I was starting to associate with Poe, I started my speeder and sped toward The Dune Sea. 

We made it to The Falcon much faster than it took to cross that distance the night before, and seeing it in the day was like seeing it for the very first time. I had to push down the awe and excitement that exploded within me as I once again stepped into the ship of legend. I guess I wasn't as good at hiding my feelings as I thought, because I caught Poe chuckling at me. 

“What?” My defenses went up immediately. 

“Nothing.” He was still smiling and shaking his head slightly, but he moved his focus from me to the passageway in front of him. 

“I saw you laughing at me, Poe. What is it?”

“I remember my first time walking onto The Falcon, too. I had that same look on my face as you just did.” 

My defenses lowered a bit at that, picturing him wide-eyed and gawking at the ship. I didn’t let anything indicate my change of heart, though, and I kept my tone guarded. I didn’t like being laughed at. I didn’t care what the reason was. 

“My parents spoke of this ship like it was magical, and to me it was always just a larger than life legend. But now it's real, and I’m standing in it. It's kind of a lot to take in.” 

Poe put his hands up as his eyebrows knit together. “I didn’t mean to offend, I just thought it was...sweet. That’s all.” 

I did not like that. 

Or did I? 

I didn’t know. 

Chewbacca had disappeared into the ship, and I assumed he went to check on the motivator, but when Poe and I got there it was empty. 

Poe was the first one to the motivator, but judging by the smoke and the “dank farrik” that he exclaimed, I didn’t have to ask if it was better. It wasn’t smoking as heavily as it was the previous night, but it definitely wasn’t cool enough to fly. 

“I hate to break it to you, but I think you need a new motivator. If it hasn’t cooled by now, I don’t think it's stable enough to fly.” 

“Thank you so much for that visionary insight. Tell me, what made you come to that conclusion? Was it the smoke pouring out of the console or the fried circuits that clued you in?” I guess it was Poe’s turn to be defensive. 

I raised my eyebrows at him, involuntarily reacting to his sarcasm. I wasn’t used to being on the receiving end of that kind of tone. 

I put my hands up, mimicking his actions just moments before. “I didn’t mean to offend.” If we weren’t standing in the Millennium Falcon, I would’ve made some remark on how a busted motivator is what he gets for flying a ship this old, but judging by the steady stream of curse words he had been spewing since laying eyes on the motivator, I decided to cut him some slack. I walked over to give it a look for myself, but this only confirmed my suspicions. The motivator was still smoking and it was a color that motivators definitely weren’t supposed to be. 

This complicated things. 

As if taking the words out of my mouth, Poe slid a hand down his tired face and sighed, “I guess this means we have to go into town and find a new one?” His tone had softened and he was frowning. Seeing him like this, his charming facade up in smoke with the motivator and his captivating eyes now filled with worry, I wondered if I were truly seeing him for the first time. 

I nodded, suddenly feeling guilty for being difficult earlier. “I’m sure we’ll be able to find someone selling a motivator. Tatooine’s a good place to find misfit parts.” 

“Yeah, but not misfit parts for a decent price.” He turned his gaze from the control panel to me. “I’ve been to these Outer Rim spaceports before. I know a good deal is as impossible to find as an ocean out here.” 

“Usually, you’re right.” I shrugged. “But you’ve never had me with you. You’re looking at this best negotiator this side of Beggars Canyon.” I couldn’t help but smirk as I proudly adopted the name that Lux usually teased me with everytime we had to go to Mos Eisley for trade. I never agreed with him to his face, but he was right. I had always been good at talking my way in, and out, of things. 

Poe raised a challenging eyebrow at me. “Is that right?” 

“You think I would lie to you?”

“Not sure. I don’t know you that well yet.” 

There was a shift in the air. Something in his tone of voice that suddenly made me too aware that we were alone in a very small space together. His eyes were locked on mine, and I was hit with a mixture of gratefulness and disappointment when I heard the unmistakable sound of Chewbacca calling out. He sounded like he was just down the hall, and hearing his voice made Poe's eyes change, going from dark and stormy, locked on mine, to guarded as his head snapped to the door. I let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding as I followed Poe’s eyes to the opening of the passageway where the Wookie appeared a few moments later. 

“No luck, buddy. Motivators fried.” This was clearly not the answer Chewbacca wanted, as he began to shout in frustration. Poe said something to calm him down, but I wasn’t paying attention. I was trying to get to the other side of the room, as far from Poe as I could be. I still wasn’t used to the feeling in my stomach I got when I was around him. 

I tuned back into the conversation when I heard my name. 

“Nova said she can take us to the cityport and we can find a new motivator there. Yes, we have to go. No you can’t stay here. She said she can get us one for cheap!” I was only catching Poe’s side of the conversation, but the other half was easy enough to fill in. Once Chewbacca stopped complaining I was able to speak. 

“We should probably go now, we don’t want to waste any more daylight.” 

And with only minimal complaining from Chewbacca, we were back on our speeders, and I found myself pushing down that all-too-familiar feeling as Poe once again placed his hands on my waist. 


End file.
